Costly farm machinery rusts away

The Punjab government seems to be taking hasty decisions as it had just announced the provision of hi-tech laser land levellers in many districts without realizing that the farm technology introduced by the Sialkot government one year ago has yet to start operation because of unavailability of operators and drivers.

These laser machines are rusting away because they have been kept under the sky. According to sources, there is only one trained operator to run the nine land levelling machines while there is no driver for the nine tractors attached to this machinery. No recruitment of operators and drivers has yet been made by the Sialkot agriculture department.

Sources said at least one operator for each machine and one driver for each tractor were required, but there was only one trained operator and no tractor driver in the district’s four tehsils: Sialkot; Daska, Sambrial and Pasrur.

Sialkot EDO (Finance) Rana Azhar Ali said the agriculture department had launched this technology without formulating any operational plan. Former district nazim Mian Naeem Javaid had ordered a departmental probe against the officials concerned for their alleged slackness in this regard.

The Sialkot agriculture department had been directed to arrange the training of staff for operating hi-tech technology aimed at giving maximum advantages to the growers. But the probe is yet to be completed.

One year ago, the Sialkot district government had introduced the hi-tech laser farm technology in the district to enable the farmers to enhance their per-acre yield under a special agricultural development programme. Mian Naeem, the ex-nazim, had distributed the machines with tractors and scrapers at a special ceremony held at Pakki Kotli-Daska village, saying the growers would be able to use this technology with the help of the agriculture department’s trained operators and experts.

He said the distribution of these machines worth Rs12 million with tractors would help the farmers to enhance their per-acre yield from 45 maunds to 55 maunds per acre under a special agricultural development programme. Farm land up to 2,650 acres was planned to be levelled through the proper use of these machines, ensuring smooth provision of irrigation water and motivating the growers to ensure maximum use of organic and inorganic fertilizer.

The farmers have expressed grave concern over the alleged slackness of the local agriculture department’s officials. They said hiring of these machines was expensive and unaffordable at a rent of Rs350 per hour, besides, transport expenses.

Shabby buildings, indifferent residents

This public interest advertisement from the Karachi Building Control Authority has been engaging one’s attention since the day it appeared, July 7. Now that the newspapers are carrying supplements on an “international housing industry exhibition” which has begun in town, one is compelled to wonder whether any action has been taken by the KBCA.

Let me first tell you what that KBCA advertisement was about. It was an attempt to make the city look better — to give a measure of aesthetics and discipline to the state of housing in town. The KBCA reminded in its advertisement that “this is your city. Preserve its built environment.”

I am not sure whether the text of the advertisement (rather mediocre in its presentation) was even read by the general public. It read thus “It has been observed that façade/elevation of multi-storey buildings are not being maintained properly by the residents, where leakage/seepage in sewerages/ sanitary lines has deteriorated. Some of the poor construction signs expose substandard construction material and poor workmanship. Builders and residents associations of multi-storey buildings are hereby advised to inspect their structures to rectify the defects and repair the sewerages /sanitary lines properly, they should remove sign boards, sun shades, etc and maintain the façade/elevation of multi-storey buildings with proper external painting in accordance with the approved buildings plan”.

The KBCA warned that “in case of non-compliance by the residents, association, action will be taken in accordance with rules and regulations of cooperative societies. In case of any defect on construction towards structure or fixture/fittings reported within one year of completion, action will also be initiated against the builder, the licensed architect and the licensed engineer in accordance with Section-12(9) of Sindh Building Control Ordinance 1979 and amended up to date.”

Indeed there is much to reflect in this text, and there is much more that reflects on the city of Karachi. Keep in mind not just the mediocrity of the general look of the city, but also its poverty when it is a matter of overall aesthetics. In fact with reference to this city’s appearance, a citizen with a sensitive eye contends that when it comes to the outer view of apartments, there is not one well-maintained complex in the city. Even the expensive and posh apartments are poorly kept from the outside, while from the inside they are “able to transport the individual into a world removed from the realities of Karachi, and this society.”

Then he went on to observe with bitterness that while individual houses in the city’s residential areas, as well as the individual multi-storey buildings are modern, stylish, expensive, and have all the attributes of affluence, the localities they live in are in bad shape. They suffer from infrastructure neglect, and the nonchalance of the residents (be they owners or tenants). They have all the shortcomings that have been listed in the KBCA advertisement and even more.     It implies that residents are unwilling to pay the costs of maintenance for a variety of reasons.

It is shocking and deplorable to witness the manner and extent to which residents resist or completely refuse to pay their dues, for facilities they fully use or even misuse. It is, evidently, not just a matter of money, it is a question of attitude, and ethics, emphasizes a housewife who is disgusted with the way in which apartment residents dodge the collectors of maintenance charges. It is equally relevant to mention here the “politics” that takes place in many of these residents associations which not only leads to stoppage of work but also causes poor quality of maintenance, says one Karachiite who has been living in upper class apartments for almost two decades.    However, it is a welcome indicator of awareness that the KBCA has at least issued an advertisement on this very vital subject, one odd aspect of the text is that it is without any time scale, schedule or deadline. Karachiites, in cases where the advertisement has been noticed, wonder why this silence. Is it deliberate? How long does the KBCA intend to wait?

Just a thought about what action ever has been taken by the KBCA or local governments in the past on this score crosses the mind. Probably nothing or not enough! Hence if public views this KBCA notice with scepticism wouldn’t be surprising.

It is very easy and customary for Karachiites to be cynical about such efforts to improve the “façade/elevation” (as described by the KBCA) of multi-storey buildings in the Karachi. Let us face it. Very many of these buildings not only appear disgracefully shabby, but they are in disturbing stages of disrepair and prolonged neglect.

I am distracted here by a news story which appeared this week in an English daily about the shabby state of apartments facing the Clifton beach, what is regarded as an affluent part of the city. And the blame went to the Clifton Cantonment Board (CCB). The contrast that these spacious apartments present to some of the development and uplift work that has been going on in this locality is sharp and disturbing.

Equally disturbing is the way in which there is lacking awareness, and therefore necessary action, for keeping multi-storey apartments in decent shape. Residents spend generously and lavishly on their lifestyles and the upkeep of the interiors. But when it comes to paying their monthly dues to their associations, or sharing costs for collective conveniences they avoid doing so. And the excuses that apartment occupants come up with often reflect a very selfish attitude, says an apartment resident. “They don’t realize that there are those who pay, and keep the operations and systems going. Those who don’t pay their subscriptions regularly are impediments of all sorts,” remarked Tariq Zuberi, who resides in one of the largest apartment complexes in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

Sometimes the disappointment and frustration that come from looking at the state of our buildings does make us wonder whether there will ever come a day, even in the distant future when Karachiites will realize the civic responsibility they have towards the environment they breathe in.

One hopes that if the KBCA does take any action, it will share with public the details which would make an interesting reading, and revealing too. It would be interesting to see how the rules are going to be implemented!

Finally, I have glanced through the newspaper supplement brought out to mark this international housing industry exhibition, which reminds us that there is a shortage of one million apartments and houses in Karachi. This is a very worrying context. For all the policies and efforts that are being made houses and apartments are becoming still more unaffordable. And in a society where becoming rich quick is the driving force and a dream that people chase, there isn’t any good news likely soon on this front. Housing loans that Pakistani and foreign banks sell don’t appear to make a real difference.

Humour in the days of humidity

There is news undertakers in Iraq are making hay while the sun bleeds. There is so much work at hand they are facing shortage of labour. The profession is attracting new talent. This is hardly a development that would cheer the heart but tragic events have a seamy side too sometimes that is categorized as irony, or sitam zarifi the way we term it more graphically in Urdu. Living in these times one tends to get desensitized to shocking things that are happening all around with such callous regularity. Not a day passes. Frequency has eased the hardships on me, said the poet in his proverbial words.

Living in these times it is easy to be heartless. And it is easy to laugh without cheer. So people smirk and snigger a lot and cry in anguished sleep. There is so much to lament about and weep for, one looks for excuses to be merry. Shrieking headlines blacken the dailies and bloody pictures from the killing fields darken the morning mood. One only smiles at one’s helplessness and explodes with laughter when the civilized world, as we have got accustomed to calling it, prattles about its determination to do all to preserve its “way of life”. Scholars of literature nauseate you theorizing about modernity, post modernity et al, while the ways of man get older and crankier by the day, and nothing that one sees is new in any sense. Planet Earth now carries the burden of six billion frustrated souls. The new millenium is young but two thousand years old. In the global village that the world has become there is no freedom of movement. All that moves is the cursor on the screen. Ibne Batoota lived in a freer world. The Statue of Liberty was not then standing guard over the Guantanamo Bay. There is no space for humour left. Only fear. The strongest are the most fearful. The young Brazilian had tripped and fallen on his face when eight bullets were pumped into his head to save ‘our way of life’. It is no surprise, under globalization the well of our national humour is also drying up.

Sitting through two mushaeras (poetry recitals), one organized by Old Ravians at the National Library, that was a rather good mix of serious and comic poetry that a generous dinner helped make up for the late start of the proceedings and the poets reading mostly from their old stuff; and the other arranged by PTV with tea and cookies at a five star hotel served to starving fans at the late dinner hour of 11pm, probably as the mazahiyah evening’s end joke that didn’t click. That notwithstanding, it was a spirited show of our special partiality for the mediocre and the jaded that we want all the world to share. PTV cameras were buzzing to capture the jollity from all angles. The applause was loud and lusty, the most sparkless of the lines creating the most din. But again a lot of the kalam was stale though peppered by prearranged repartee. The poets had little fresh to report. All there was to make people laugh at was the easiest butt of our national ridicule —- women, whether as wedded wives, lovers or plain harlots. No eyebrows were raised for singling out the better halves for jesting though society has no shortage of sleazy matters to laugh at, ridicule, satirize, mock, gibe and have rollicking fun about. Tahira Abdullah, fierce defender of femininity, who spares no quarter to point out the sexist nature of our chauvinist attitudes, fumed and sizzled and quietly raged when I told her that in the previous mushaera our senior most humourist had had a dig at Mukhtaran Mai to tickle the male ego that has been nursing a subcutaneous hurt and a kind of cerebral disorientation since seeing a lowly woman holding her head high after having been put in her place so publicly. The risible indeed is most often caused by incongruity but it needs some refinement to know what to laugh at.

Laughing matters aside, one also needs to know when to open one’s mouth and when to keep one’s words to oneself. At times even stupid silence serves as wisdom. The laconic make the fewest mistakes. Now renowned and rich Ahmad Fraz, who had no need for this Book Foundation job is making unbecoming fuss over its loss, providing grist to the gossip mills and diversion to many who enjoy watching men tumble from grace. As if not gratified already enough they are prodding him to take the Sartrian course for atonement. Why should he? There is a difference between state awards and government favours; if one is comfortable with the latter, the former can be held on to proudly. But, pray, let there be no talk about offers from overseas and a second exile. At his age people come home.

SACRED CALLIGRAPHY: Facsimile of Quranic calligraphy from the noble pen of Caliph Ali (RA) was displayed by a publishing house some days back at a local hotel. Historiographer Saleem Quraishi, formerly of the India Office Library, introduced the relics giving details of how they got passed on from Tamerlane’s Damascus conquest possessions in the 8th H to the Chughtai, Durrani, Mughal and Sikh dynasties to the care of the India Office Library. Written on various types of parchments or vellum of small rectangular shape with generally five words in a line in brownish black ink, these bear marks of restoration and floral embellishments by subsequent owners. The Caliph (RA) was among the most outstanding of the Prophet’s (PBUH) scribes. He taught writing to his sons also. It is related that a scribe working in his presence was advised “to shake the inkpot from time to time, cut a long point on the reed pen, keep the letters close and the lines well spaced.”

Local body politicking

ACCORDING to the Punjab education minister, many of the outgoing nazims were guilty of spending education funds released to them on schemes that would give them political mileage. The minister made no mention of his own office’s failure to stop the misappropriation when it was seemingly aware of it. That he should have chosen a time when local body elections are being held to reveal the ‘fraud’ is indeed a curious development.

Education Minister Imran Masood is an enlightened, educated and well-groomed gentleman, and there is no reason to doubt that he means doing well by his portfolio. He may also be credited with trying to implement the ongoing education drive in the province to the best of his intent, insisting always that the Punjab CM, a senior member of his family, is to be praised for it. But, having these qualities does not make the minister unsusceptible to politicking. He is a politician after all, and cannot be blamed for doing his bit to bolster the ruling PML’s chances of strengthening its grip on the local body system.

The message the minister has tried to send to intending nazims is this: if you chose to remain on the wrong side of the ruling party, you could be accused of misappropriation of funds and hence denial thereof. He has also warned of curbing the authority of the district nazims to appoint staff in the education department at the local-government level. Misappropriation of funds, unfortunately, is not the only kind of corruption around. Other varieties include putting a spin on facts at a time when you can derive political mileage out of it or when you know it will coax your opponents into submission.

There can be no doubt that the Punjab government will do all it can to win over as many of the so-called independent elected nazims to its side as it possibly can. The whole system of holding local body elections on a non-party basis is flawed to the core, especially when everyone knows that parties have actually issued tickets to local poll candidates. It is a non-party-based election only on paper, and this suits the ruling party.

With increased privileges and powers now going to the nazims under the amended local body act, many sitting MNAs and MPAs are reportedly interested in vacating their seats and contesting the election for the post of nazim. It is seen as a quick way to power rather than waiting to be appointed as a minister. District nazims are virtual rulers in their districts, a privilege that could bring them more recognition than that enjoyed by several MPs of the same district put together.

There is no stigma attached to a nazim switching party loyalties because nazims are officially elected as independent candidates. In this sense, the local body system, which is supposed to serve as a nursery for politicians anywhere, has now legalized turncoat-ism. Much to the satisfaction of the ruling party, there seems to be no dearth of its takers.

THE Punjab Inspector-General of the Police has announced the recruitment of some 13,000 new constables, 3,000 of them to be based in Lahore. The police have also been experimenting with community policing in selected areas of the provincial capital. It is too early to comment on the efficacy of the experiment because one does not see a let up in dacoities and hold-ups that have become the norm. Theoretically speaking, given a sincere intent and a potent strategy guiding community policing, you cannot go wrong with it.

A word of advice is very much in order here with regard to the planned recruitment of more constables, particularly for Lahore. Urban police elsewhere in the world are specially trained to deal with the high-stress environment in which they are required to perform their duties. What we see in Pakistan is that policemen posted in big cities are not any better trained than their rural counterparts. Many indeed come from the hinterland and are forced to take charge of their duties in an alien, urban environment where they remain maladjusted.

Much of the rot seen in the way the Lahore police operate has the police’s rural attitudes and background to be blamed for it. Most policemen have no empathy for the city dweller; fewer still are capable of understanding the complexities of urban life and the way complaints should be handled and cases processed. One must also concede that the rural policemen serving in urban areas live under the worst of conditions. The pathetic state of their living quarters and lack of allowances and privileges goad them into becoming monsters instead of public-friendly policemen.

It is time police recruitment was done on a more modern basis. The police reforms promised under a revised police act laid stress on some of the measures to the effect, but these have remained unimplemented. Unless new recruitments are made in the light of the recommendations that guided the revised police act, a mere increase in the number of police will likely add to the public’s burden.

PARCIPANTS in a three-day international conference on Waris Shah, which was held in Lahore this week, pressed for the adoption of Punjabi as a medium of instruction at the primary level. This has been a longstanding demand of Punjabi-language activists that has failed to get a sympathetic hearing from successive governments. Speakers also informed the gathering that there were about 10,000 unemployed Punjabi postgraduates in the province. Part of the problem is that Punjabis, among them language activists, writers, poets and politicians are also divided on the issue. Then, not everyone living in Punjab likes to be called Punjabi even though they may belong to the same or similar ethnic stock, the Seraiki and Potohari people being particular cases in point. Ruling political governments also avoid taking a stance on the issue for the same reason.

It is also true that there remain many among Punjabis who oppose the language being made a medium of instruction, preferring Urdu instead. Such a bias is also reflected in the person of the Punjab University’s Oriental College principal and others like him in the education department who have forced postgraduate Punjabi candidates to take a compulsory 100-mark paper in Urdu. Also, there is now talk of introducing another compulsory paper of Sindhi, Balochi and Pashto for those studying for a master’s degree in Punjabi.

Laughable as the situation is, it is the Punjabi degree-holders who really are in trouble. There simply are no jobs for them. The lucky ones who may get a job can do little besides teaching the language. The possibility that Punjabi will ever be made the official language of the province with its existing borders is a lost cause, no matter who presses how hard for it.

REPORTS emanating from the new Lahore digital passport office speak of the lack of staff there. Many posts are apparently lying vacant, with one assistant director forced to vet and approve over 600 applications a day. The situation at the subordinate level is not much different, adding to applicants’ woes.

It is a shame that Nadra should have equipped the new office with high-tech gadgetry capable of churning out machine-readable passports, which is a requirement for foreign travel by many countries now, at a time when the interior ministry has failed to do its part of the job by adequately manning the office. It’s a classic case of a lack of coordination between the ministry and its subordinate institution, with people left to suffer for no fault of theirs.

Meanwhile, many waiting for their turn at the passport office believe it will take the man at the top to make things work just as it did a few years ago when President Musharraf had to intervene to put an India-Pakistan cricket match back on TV screens. —OBSERVER