NFC award and Sindh

The ball has started rolling on the NFC issue, though it stopped at 47 per cent allocation to the provinces, three per cent short of the 50 per cent share demanded by the provinces from the centre. This three per cent sum means tens of billions of rupees. The government and policymakers should hear the real grievances of the smaller provinces, especially of Sindh which bankrolls most but receives far too little, compared to its contribution.

Punjab too should listen as it consumes the biggest chunk of the NFC pie on two counts - by benefiting from the large share of the federal allocation and the ratios in which the cake is distributed among the provinces.

Till the early 1970s when we had two provinces of East and West Pakistan, the former, bigger in population, had agreed to keep 50 per cent of the national exchequer (in fact it received less than that), though it was entitled to a greater share on the basis of its population. So, we have a precedent of the bigger province, population-wise, relinquishing its claim in favour of the smaller one.

Moreover, nowhere in the world is population regarded as the only benchmark while allocating federal funds to its administrative units. Sindh contributes the most - more than the combined amount of the three provinces - but receives even less than some other smaller provinces.

Punjab has a huge industrial infrastructure in Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot and in half a dozen more cities. The question arises: when industrial units in Punjab - in volumes and capacities - exceed those in Karachi, why are tax returns so low in Punjab, compared to Karachi's?

If Punjab's industrialists fulfil their national obligation, in the present context of the NFC Sindh regards Punjab as the receiver only - not the giver - while the former receive crumbs of its own bread. Punjab's payment of less than 30 per cent tax to the federal exchequer strengthens the argument that it receives from the national pie three times more, though, before the budget, the tax collection is more vigorously pursued in Sindh than in other provinces.

Thus the loss of justified revenue of one province is in fact the unfair gain of another. Now the need is to set up a special committee composed of equal provincial representation. Besides other important recommendations pertaining to the NFC, it should ponder and recommend to the centre the need for GST collection separately by each province, coal and oil share of the provinces in the light of democratic and logical principles other than the vetoing strength of a single administrative unit.

Moreover, economic reports on different regions suggest that the pace of development has remained uneven, i.e. some provinces and districts are growing faster than others. In five years this gulf would be wide enough. Punjab's MNAs and senators should think seriously that population as the sole basis for distribution of the NFC award would stop the progress of smaller provinces. They must help Sindh's lawmakers in the change of Article-160 by an amendment that population should not be the only criterion in ascertaining the share of a province.

KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS

Karachi

Carnage in Karachi

The bombing incident that occurred at the Hyderi Mosque in Karachi on Friday was heart-rendering. What was most surprising was that almost every private TV channel gave exclusive coverage to the incident, but our state-owned channel PTV didn't even bother to give its details.

One really wonders what policy PTV follows. Being the state-owned channel, it is the responsibility of the PTV authorities to make sure that such incidents are given proper coverage so that the masses could get timely information.

Secondly, they should consider that since many people do not have the cable net facility, they have to completely rely on PTV for every piece of information. As such the PTV authorities should fulfill their demands and improve the standard of their programmes.

SANA REHMAN

Karachi

(2)

This refers to the very unsettling and tragic incident at the Hyderi Mosque in Karachi on Friday.

I am sure that all Muslims will vehemently and boldly condemn this and all such acts and use all means to pressure the authorities to act without delay.

More importantly, the ulema, khateeb and imams should declare in their sermons, public speeches and writings such acts abhorrent to Islam and are crimes against humanity.

IMTIAZ KHAN

California, USA

(3)

It is painful to see that in a Muslim country, people are killing their own brothers. I feel Pakistan should turn secular as quickly as possible. The state should stop grading its citizens. Only secularism could gradually end this barbarism.

ABDUL MALIK

Pleasanton, California, USA

Turning garbage into gold

Every year on April 22 Earth Day is observed with a view to keeping the earth clean from pollutants. It is reported that Karachi generates 8,000 tons of garbage daily and the city government intends to set up eight garbage-dumping sites in the city, which will be eventually transferred to landfill sites outside the city (Dawn, April 21).

In this regard I would like to draw the attention of the city administration to the article "Composting: solid waste into gold" by Mr M. B. Chaudhry (Dawn, EBR, April 5). The organic matter (vegetable, fruit peelings, etc.) present in garbage can be separated from inorganic matter (glass, grits, plastics, etc.,) and put separately into pits at the identified sites. Vegetable origin garbage can be converted into organic fertilizer.

Such conversion takes place physically and chemically by means of biodegradation, followed up by the action of aerobic and anaerobic micro-organisms (fungi and bacteria) for bioconversion. The process of conversion of garbage into organic fertilizer takes a long time which can be shortened by the inoculation of effective microorganisms involved in bioconversion.

Fungal and bacterial cultures can be cultivated on a large scale in laboratory for injecting into the heap of the biomass (garbage) for enhancing bioconversion. The cost of input for creating an infrastructure for bioconversion may be higher in the beginning than the output (organic fertilizer) but in the long run it should turnout to be a profitable enterprise.

The application of composting technology in disposing of the city garbage will keep the city clean and we can hope to get clean air and water.

DR M. JALALUDDIN

Karachi

Relief for govt employees

There were days when it was thought that the best occupation for the educated was to join a government department. The income was sufficient to bear the expenses of families and dependents, their jobs were secure and considered respectable.

The rise in the cost of transport and the hike in house rents have now created a severe imbalance in the budget of government employees. Whatever the distance between the house of an employee and his office, a minimum of Rs20 is spent on travelling daily. Roughly this works out to Rs520 a month (with four off-days) whereas the government employees are paid Rs340 only for the higher grades and Rs174 for low grades as conveyance allowance.

The house rent allowance at 45 per cent of basic salary remains unchanged at the rate fixed before 1991. The fact is that the house allowance ratio has no relevance to the current rent situation. Similarly, dearness, compensatory and medical allowances are not sufficient.

Members of legislative bodies, banks, financial institutions, other semi-government employees and autonomous bodies are being paid higher salaries, along with facilities such as telephone, electricity and gas charges.

The government must conduct a survey to determine the degree of poverty of its white-collar workers, and then chalk out a plan to provide them a substantial relief.

DILSHAD AHMED KHAN

Karachi

Plastic currency

Letters keep appearing in your esteemed daily from time to time about soiled, badly damaged and cellophaned currency notes which are not accepted by shopkeepers. Notes pass through millions of both healthy and diseased hands. Metallic coins introduced recently are also criticized by the public, as they cannot be kept in any quantity in a wallet. They also carry the risk of being swallowed by infants.

A news item appearing on page 9 (Dawn, May 2) says that Singapore is now going to have plastic bank notes after the "unsuccessful attempt to introduce them 14 years ago". They last three to four times longer than the paper ones, are more resistant to dirt and less easily torn, according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

It is time our State Bank considered replacing our paper money with plastic notes.

To begin with, we can have plastic currency of smaller denominations like Rs5, Rs10, Rs50 and Rs100, which are in greater use.

M. SHAFIQUE AHMED

Karachi

Indian players' comments

The Indian junior hockey team, after winning the final against the Pakistani team, dedicated their win to the "heroes of Kargil".

Pakistani people and sports management have been a patient and accommodating host during the cricket series as well as the junior hockey tournament.

First, the Pakistani team was ridiculed by Sports Ten Indian anchor Manjreker. His comments on many occasions were very one-sided and did not suit an anchor.

And now come these extremely insensitive comments by Indian players. What really saddened me was that the comments came from young players.

I believe that these players were exploited by their coach and/or manager.

JAWAID SHAIKH

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Orangi project

The Cottage Industry Orangi Project was launched by the KMC (now under the City District Government Karachi) in 1995. Nine years have passed since then, but development work has not started yet.

In case the authorities have no interest in implementing the above scheme, why don't they refund, with interest, the amounts deposited by people?

MUHAMMAD AYUB

Karachi

Panchayat's order

Newspaper reports say (May 7) that a village council in Punjab permitted a landlord to rape the sister and sister-in-law of a man accused of maintaining an illicit relationship with the landlord's daughter?

The incident happened on April 30 in the village of Donga Naich after the landlord, Ghaffar, had complained to the council that his honour had been sullied when the son of a poor farmer began a relationship with his daughter.

On June 22, 2002, Mukhtiar Mai was raped in the presence of a large number of villagers in the Punjab village of Meerwala to atone for her younger brother's alleged affair with a sister of one of the accused rapists. In the same case, her 11-year-old brother Abdul Shaqoor was also molested.

Although six people, out of 14 accused, that included all four rapists and two members of the tribal council which ordered the gang-rape, were condemned to death and fined Rs40,000 each by a terrorism court, the execution of the sentence has not been disseminated through various media to attract public notice.

The role of the media, the police and the judiciary in this and such other cases must be addressed to prevent future abuse against women in Pakistan.

LT-COL (retd) SYED AHMED

Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

(2)

It is sickening to hear that two more girls have been raped on the orders of a local panchayat. Rather than expressing sadness and surprise, the prime minister and the president should visit the two girls and their families and ensure that the culprits are punished.

Sitting in an airconditioned room guarded by armed men and expressing views on this ordeal won't do much. And this is not new; the president expressed the same views last time this happened. Nothing has changed. When will the government act and enforce laws so that this doesn't happen again?

FAWWAD SHAFI

Karachi

Shifting the capital

This is in response to the letter by Mr Rehman, "Planning Gwadar city" (April 20).

It is great to learn that people are finally realizing the importance of planned cities. Gwadar is surely going to be the future economic hub of the region and its journey has already begun on a promising note.

I have at least one reservation with regard to Mr Rehman's comment that "Ayub Khan did quite a few constructive things; one of them was building Islamabad".

After over 10 years of independence, our rulers decided to shift the capital from one end of the country (Karachi) to the other. Is that what countries do in their initial stages after gaining independence? I think such moves only put an additional burden on the people when the country is in need of capital for building its infrastructure.

Take Malaysia for instance; it shifted its capital at a time when it had become a stable economy. It's good to have financial and federal capitals of a country in different cities, but only when a country and its citizens can afford its burden.

MUHAMMAD ATIF KHAN

Karachi

Location of CM's office

I agree with the views of Dr M.A. Soofi (April 22) that the chief minister of Punjab should keep his office at the civil secretariat in Lahore because doing so will increase efficiency and provide easier access to him.

Eminent premiers/chief ministers in the past like Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, Sir Khizar Hayat Tiwana, Malik Feroz Khan Noon and Dr Khan Sahib had their offices at the civil secretariat.

It was considered the most appropriate place for a chief minister as most senior officers of the provincial government, including secretaries, had their offices there and were readily available to him. Now they would be running between the secretariat and 90, The Mall with files, resulting in waste of time and energy.

R.R. ALVI

Lahore

Traffic rules

I would like to ask someone in the hierarchy of the National Highway Authority to explain as to why it is mandatory for vehicle travelling on the motorway to keep the right indicator continuously flashing, from Karachi to Hyderabad and back.

Those who don't do this - dangerous for both preceding and following vehicles and particularly for the one that may be waiting at some intersection or U-turn to enter the road - are penalized.

A response will be highly educative, particularly for those who have had opportunities to drive on freeways and motorways in other countries as well.

FREQUENT COMMUTER

Karachi

PTV awards

At the PTV award ceremony held in January this year for the year 2002, the best Urdu news anchor's award went to a lady who began as an Urdu news anchor some time in June 2003.

Notwithstanding her performance, she was simply not eligible for the award because she did not perform at all as a Khabarnama anchor during 2002.

Would PTV authorities like to comment on this gross injustice to much more senior Urdu news anchors?

SYMA SULTAN

Karachi

PCB: putting the record straight

This is with reference to the letter by Mr Tasnim A. Khan under the headline "Need for PCB overhaul" (May 2).

The Pakistan Cricket Board wishes to clarify that Mr Tasnim has got his facts wrong. Mr Shaharyar M. Khan was the manager of the Pakistan cricket team on the 1999 tour to India which won the Test series as well as the one-day international series.

In the just concluded series, the Pakistan cricket team narrowly lost the Test and one-day international series. Meanwhile, Pakistan's Under-15 and Under-17 cricket teams recently won the Asia Cups while the Under-19 cricket team won the ICC World Cup in Bangladesh.

SAMIUL HASAN

General Manager, Media, Pakistan Cricket Board, Lahore

EOABI pensioners

This is to draw the attention of the prime minister to the pathetic financial condition of retired employees getting monthly old-age survivor's pension from the Employees Old Age Benefits Institution. Currently, the pension amount of Rs700 being paid is so meagre that it cannot buy a few days' items necessary for survival.

The prime minister is requested to help raise the monthly pension of Employees Old Age Benefits Institution to four times the present pension to enable us to arrange a single meal a day for us and our families in these hard days when prices of all commodities and life-saving drugs are rising.

At present, the Employees Old Age Benefits Institution fund stands at Rs8 billion.

RAZI UD DIN

Karachi

A broken road

I want to draw the attention of the relevant authorities to the deplorable condition of a portion of the Jamila Street near the entrance to the Ranchore Lane bus stop in Karachi. There are puddles everywhere and the road is broken at every single pace. People from New Kumhar Wara, Bakra Piri, Nawa Lane use Jamila Street to reach the bus stop. They all have to suffer a bone-rattling ride.

I request the authorities to ensure repair of this road as soon as possible.

SARFARAZ SATTI

Karachi

Clarification

With reference to my letter "KSE listing regulation" (May 7), I clarify that I am a small shareholder of a particular listed company of the Karachi Stock Exchange and not of the Karachi Stock Exchange.

I requested necessary measures against that company and not against the KSE.

M. NAZAKAT ALI KHAN

Karachi