| May 24, 2005 | Tuesday | Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1426 |
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Sindh’s poisoned lakes
A small victory
WITH the Sixth National Finance Commission Award not in sight, the provinces are now formulating the next year’s budget in the light of the 1997 National Finance Award. For the past three years, the stakeholders have grappled with the NFC issues without any success and have failed to reach an agreement on the basis of give-and-take. It indicates that the problem is too complex to be resolved through traditional approaches and frozen mindsets. In a fast changing world, all reforms require an appropriate mix of elements of both continuity and change — something which has been lacking in the process of evolving the Sixth NFC Award. Another factor has been the creation of district governments which has further weakened the financial autonomy of the provinces.
The main hurdle in the way of the Award is an over-centralized system under which both fiscal and democratic autonomy is largely denied and provincial disharmony strikes roots. Even the local government reforms have run into trouble. In actual practice, the administrative and fiscal authority entrusted to the district governments under the Local Government Ordinance 2001 is essentially being exercised by the provinces which, in turn, get a similar treatment from the all powerful federation. The provincial budgets are financed up to 80 per cent by federal fiscal transfers. In the absence of any real taxation powers, the provinces are not accountable to the people as is the case in a representative system of government either for revenue generation or expenditures. The outcome is there for anyone to see.
However, with the federal budget only a few days away, there is need for a last-ditch effort to be made by the stakeholders to produce an interim award on the sidelines of the National Economic Council meeting on May 27. With a comprehensive award ruled out at this point in time, the best way is to take some initial steps. Maybe, a step-by-step approach may succeed where earlier efforts failed. As far as the federal government is concerned, it must honour the proposal made by President Musharraf on February 23, 2005, for sharing the 50 per cent of the divisible pool with the provinces. The ministry of finance is reported to have offered 47.5 per cent. The gap can be closed either in one go or over a period of two to three years, subject to an agreement reached with the provinces. The fiscal space can be filled by doing away with duplicating provincial and federal responsibilities in certain areas of expenditure as by containing defence expenditure in view of the easing of the regional security situation.
Under the Constitution, most nation-building activities, like health and education, lie within the provincial jurisdiction. It is time for the policy-makers to empower the provinces and apportion rights and responsibilities among the three tiers of government to improve governance. The provinces should also move with the times in a spirit of mutual accommodation. The antiquated criteria of resource sharing on a population basis alone must be replaced with a more rational formula based on equity. Resource generation and needs should be added to the existing criteria. The issue of fiscal and provincial autonomy is very vital and cannot be wished away. It is time to grapple seriously with the issues that are as vital for equity as for inter-provincial harmony in the context of the next NFC Award.
A REPORT in this newspaper has detailed the massive environmental pollution that untreated industrial effluent is causing to Kalri lake in southern Sindh which also happens to be Karachi’s main source of water. Kalri Lake, which supplies over 80 per cent of the city’s daily water requirement, is being poisoned by effluent containing toxic substances from a nearby industrial estate and two power plants. Tests of water samples from the lake have revealed that pollution levels are already twice that of the maximum limit set by the World Health Organization. Perhaps the most disturbing part of the investigation is that government officials whose job it is to ensure that the water is fit for human consumption are not even ready to acknowledge the high level of pollution affecting Kalri water. Instead of looking away from the problem, the provincial government must take urgent remedial action to ensure that, at the very least, the effluent being released into the lake is treated to reduce its toxic content below the WHO prescribed level.
In fact, the picture that emerges is that increasing industrialization and rapid population growth, coupled with the absence of any monitoring system or the enforcement of the government’s own pollution standards, has led to a situation where most of Sindh’s lakes are being polluted to a point where their water is unfit for human consumption. Dozens of people, including several children, died last year in Hyderabad after consuming water that came from a source normally considered safe for drinking. Unfortunately, nothing seems to have been learnt from that tragedy because no one was held accountable for what happened. The factories and plants which were polluting the lake water are still doing so without any fear of governmental action requiring them to treat industrial effluent. Practical and cost-effective steps have already been suggested by experts to treat the effluent before it is discharged into Kalri lake. It is important for the government to ensure their prompt implementation. At the same time, the industries that operate in the province should all be required to build treatment plants so that the poisoning of Sindh’s lakes is halted.
SOCIETY changes in incremental steps. One big step was taken on Saturday when determined human rights and political activists went ahead with a second mixed run in Lahore after the disruption of the first one. It was important to go through with the event in view of the issue made of it by the Lahore administration and some right-wing groups who disrupted a mixed marathon in April in Gujranwala. It may be recalled that after that debacle, the Punjab government said it would continue to hold such mixed sporting events but then succumbed to pressure and reneged on its promise, in effect condoning the religious lobby’s misguided notions. If the MMA had not threatened to disrupt the first mixed marathon on May 14, which resulted in the arrest and manhandling of some 30 rights activists, Saturday’s marathon would not have been seen as, what Ms Asma Jehangir said to the BBC, a “symbolic” one to make the point that the bullying had to be confronted. Mercifully, the run passed off peacefully and without incident. The local administration, which had earlier issued strong words of warning and said that the marathon would not take place, ultimately gave consent for the event. The police’s role, in a marked departure from their uncivilized conduct on May 15, was cooperative and prevented any ugly face-off with MMA activists present on the sidelines.
None of this means that those responsible for last week’s unseemly attack on peaceful citizens should go unpunished. An inquiry should be instituted and proper action taken. The government, for its part, must understand that there is a high societal cost to be paid if vigilantism by groups or parties is encouraged or permitted to go unchecked. Civil liberties have to be zealously protected if democracy has to have any meaning.