Valentine, vote and victory
Red was formally for communism but now the red of valentine has spread far and wider. Well enough of Valentine for what do I, a victim of unrequited love, know about the antics of Cupid.
The much awaited polling day is here and Karachi like the rest of the country is abuzz and gripped with election fever. The heavyweights have entered the arena: the kites (MQM) are soaring high clearly giving the message not to tangle with them while the arrows (PPP) are without their chief archer (Benazir), feebly attempting to strike down the kites. Others in the fray are obscure elements bearing candles, lamp, etc.
Loudspeakers are blaring away extolling the virtues of our virtuous local leaders and slogans are being raised to assail this or that leader.
And yet there is little doubt about the final results, though it may lead to more digging of roads – the favourite past times of the current party in power.
Karachians better be ready for if not anything else more digging up of roads and flyovers and underpasses, fetish of the local powers that be, as we all know who will return to power in our illustrious city.
I am told that there will be some kite-flying in London also as the leaders have to lead by example.
Karachi has a carnival atmosphere with flags, pennants and banners adorning every nook and cranny of the city. But what of the issues involved. Has any major party addressed the grievances of the citizens? It is true that Karachi is developing at a marathon pace but at what cost: massive traffic jams, dug-up roads and power shortages? Do the leaders really care about the tax paying citizens? I, for one, know no one cares about me and I have to fend for myself.
It will be nothing but old wine in new bottles. Something never changes and being the pessimist I know that the status quo will remain.
The elections are being held without Benazir whom at least I shall miss dearly for her presence in any campaign would have sparked a light and added fuel to the election fire. There will never be a leader like her and Karachi has lost one of the principal characters of its political stage.
I am being repeatedly cautioned that the post-election scenario is ominous and fraught with unforeseen dangers though Karachians have become inured to violence and bedlam. The year 2007 has proved it amply with May 12 and October 18 glaring and stark reminders of our violent disposition.
I simply hope that sanity will prevail whoever wins the elections.
Thank God I have misplaced my identity card and will not have to vote although I never intended to do so in the very first place.—Syed Ali Anwar
Commuting in one piece
You wear the best of clothes, comb your hair with a little gel and polish your shoes so that you look absolutely spick and span each and every day while leaving for the office. You also take care not to soil your clothes while having a quick breakfast. However, you are in for a shock as soon as you catch the bus (which is rare these days) or mini-bus (plenty of them on all routes) or wagon for the office.
If you are able to get a seat, good for you, but if not then that is absolutely bad luck for you. You are likely to be shoved and jostled and pushed every couple of minutes until you reach your stop. You are literally trampled over. Someone will elbow you on your head, making your spectacles fall over. Consider yourself lucky if you get them back in one piece. Another will make sure that your hair gets dishevelled. A third will push his rugged elbow into your stomach so that he can further inch his way into the mini-bus.
Besides, there will be several people who will walk over your shoes as they don’t believe in looking before walking. Both the passengers getting on board a vehicle or getting off it are bound to step on your shoes. If you happen to be wearing a pair of sandals then that is nothing less than Friday the 13th for you. A heavy Peshawari sandal will injure your toes. Then a pair of Lunda Bazaar sneakers will make sure that the injury gets worse.
Sometimes even getting a back seat does not really improve things as here, too, your shoes get stepped over by all those passengers standing opposite you. Besides, sometimes they press hard against your knees, making life hell for you. You can almost feel your bones snapping, but there is nothing much you can do about it.
If you are seated on one of the side seats, here, too, you are bothered no end. One or the other passenger keeps lowering his head to almost touch yours, but this is just to check the place the vehicle has reached. This truly irritates you, but what can you do except bear it with patience?
Even the driver makes sure that just before you disembark he gives you something to remember him by. He does not bring the vehicle to a full stop. All your pleas to apply the brakes fall on deaf ears. He rather keeps the vehicle moving so that you get off running. Consider yourself lucky if you are able to get off the bus in one piece.
Although you were looking fresh and smart as you bid your family goodbye just an hour ago, now you look as if you have just returned from a wrestling match. And this is just the beginning of the day. You have to go through the entire process once again when you leave the office. That’s life for you in Karachi. Take it or leave it.—Mohsin Maqbool Elahi
Compiled by Syed Hassan Ali
Email: karachian@dawn.com
Early warning
The Lyari Expressway project is no doubt laudable and when completed, it will considerably cut down the travelling time from Sohrab Goth to the port. However, there are some features of the design which need to be looked into and reviewed at this stage before it is opened to heavy traffic.
The expressway passes over a number of bridges on the Lyari River in Shershah, Lasbella, Tin Hatti and Gulshan-i-Iqbal, to name a few. These bridges are built of prefab girders about 90 feet long and 20 feet wide. These huge girders, with tons of weight, are placed precariously on pillars on each side of the bridge with no supporting pillars in the middle. The end of the girders resting on the pillars is hardly one foot.
On Dec 14, 2007, one of these girders, while being lifted by a crane, slipped and was broken into pieces near Gharibabad. The matter was reported by several newspapers. Luckily, no human life was lost.
As reported in the papers, these girders are being fabricated by a contractor for the Frontier Works Organization (FWO). What is the qualification and experience of the contractor and what facilities does he have for quality control and testing of strength, and is there any independent organization to certify that they conform to international standards and safety factors?
I have my apprehensions that these girders are not strong enough to carry the weight of heavy trailers without a supporting column in the centre and may cause serious damage in the future.
I request the CDGK, Institution of Engineers Pakistan, NGOs, the media and all concerned citizens who have any say, to look into this matter before we have another incident like the collapse of the Northern Bypass bridge near Shershah on Sept 1, 2007, where many precious lives were lost.
CDR (Retd) HASAN MAHMOOD KIDWAI
Life member,
Institution of Engineers Pakistan
Transport solution
Sir,
There are various transport problems which can be solved with only ‘one order.’ In an order from the government, all government, semi-government and private offices, banks and other institutions (with at least 10 employees) should be instructed to arrange contract buses/vans for their employees.
This will result in reducing the rush in public transport and traffic jams as employees will not have to use their own transport. They will reach work on time while there will be a reduction in fuel consumption.
This solution is immediately workable and needs only an order from the government. I think a good result will come in no time.
AKHTER PERVAIZ
Karachi
Public toilets
Sir,
Massive development has taken place recently in Clifton’s Block 4, particularly in the form of two giant parks viz. Beach Park and Bagh Ibn-i-Qasim.
Consequently, thousands of people visit this sprawling area daily from every nook and corner of the city for recreation, but a total lack of public toilet facilities mars the beauty of this area as to respond to the call of nature, people relieve themselves wherever they find an isolated place. This creates a lot of nuisance for the area’s residents and picnickers.
Therefore, the attention of the CDGK is solicited towards this matter.
SIDDIK S. JAANGDA
Karachi
Uncovered sewerage line
Sir,
I am resident of Sector 7-D3, North Karachi. Last June, encroachments of houses were removed in our vicinity to allow the cleaning of the main sewerage line, which was covered by them. But the authority concerned has not bothered to re-cover the line, up till now.
It has now become a dumping site for everyone and polythene bags are a common site. This has also invited a thick population of mosquitoes, rats and cockroaches. Moreover, it has become very difficult to cross the road for residents of an adjacent slum as sewage oozes frequently.
Therefore, I would like the authority concerned to take note of this at the earliest and solve it.
AIMAN KHURSHID
Via e-mail
More trees slaughtered
Sir,
The metropolis of Karachi is being ravished of its beauty and splendour slowly but surely. Recently Kashmir Road, celebrated for its decades-old lush green palm trees, has been dispossessed of its magnificence.
The cutting of full-grown trees, least of all which add beauty and grandeur to the surroundings, especially at a time when the city has been deprived of its mangroves in the name of ‘development’ and the country is facing the worst sort of deforestation, is an unpardonable crime.
Since immense loss to the environment and aesthetics has already been suffered by the residents of the metropolis, the authorities, in order to mitigate its impact, must work out a plan on an emergency basis to plant similar palm trees on both sides of the thoroughfare the moment construction work is completed so that the pristine beauty of Kashmir Road can be revived.
ISHA M. KURESHI
Bath Island
Telephone complaint
Sir,
Despite my several telephonic complaints and personal visits to the Gulzar-i-Hijri telephone exchange, my phone number (464-4336) has been dead since Dec 10, 2007.
In the meantime, I am receiving bills, including line rent and charges for the Pakistan Package, although I had it de-activated in time, before my phone line got disconnected.
Is there someone in such a huge, profit-making organization able to deliver even normal service to its consumers?
MRS R. SIDDIQUI
Via e-mail
city@dawn.com
Where there’s a will, there’s an interest
The state of the power sector is an example. The country is facing the worst ever electricity shortage of its history and needs emergency measures to overcome this national crisis. The news from the secretary Water and Power, Ismail Qureshi, is that the problem is not going to go anywhere soon and may last for another two summers, ‘eighteen months’ to be exact.
The caretaker government is indeed an ad hoc set up to run day to day business of the country, but it can take decisions in advance for the future if it has an interest in the matter but postpone policy measures of immediate nature if it is not interested.
Take for example the case of the post of member Water in Wapda that would fall vacant in April. The caretaker minister for Water and Power is earnestly pursuing an extension for the incumbent member, Chaudhry Mushtaq, more than two months ahead of his retirement date. Obviously, the minister wants to ensure that a former colleague holds on to a post that would deal with upcoming development schemes like dams and canals involving sums as big as $17 billion.
On the other hand, two of the most important posts — Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) managing-director and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority chairman (Nepra) — in the power sector that deal with private investors intending to invest in Pakistan have been lying vacant for more than six months now. The crucial seat at (PPIB) — a one window operation for power sector investments — is being run on acting charge basis for the last eight months.
The incumbent, Yousaf Memon, as additional secretary of the Water and Power ministry, has a full time job. Though an efficient officer, as a full time head of PPIB he cannot be expected to do a corporate manager’s job — fighting on behalf of the private sector investors and vigorously pursuing their cases.
The post of PPIB managing-director fell vacant in July last year when Khalid Irfan Rahman resigned for things he would not like to do. The then prime minister constituted a committee led by minister for water and power and comprising secretaries of establishment division, finance and water and power which advertised the post and short listed eight candidates.
The caretaker minister conducted interviews of these candidates and moved a summary for the appointment of a former managing director who had left the country in the heat of investigations into setting up of independent power producers (IPPs) during the PPP government. His appointment was halted when some cases were pending in the national accountability bureau were pointed out. The post remains un-filled.
The post of Nepra chairman fell vacant on September 27, 2007. The Nepra has to scrutinise all the regulatory aspects of generation, distribution, transmission and working of independent power companies including their licences and tariffs.
Interestingly, the incumbent acting chairman, Zafar Ali Khan, who is otherwise a Nepra member, had qualified through a selection process a few years ago to head the quasi-judicial forum but was denied the post. Later, President Pervez Musharraf decided to accommodate Lt-Gen Saeeduz Zafar (retd) as Nepra head when the then Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali removed him as head of Railways. Interestingly, the normal procedure was not followed at the time of his induction into Nepra as member because he was moved from PPIB to appoint Khalid Rehman as PPIB chief.
A three-member committee has been holding interviews of a number of candidates to fill the vacant post of chairman over the last few months without any final decision. There are candidates who allege that they were among the short-listed lot of 17 but were dropped from the selection process and some other fresh candidates were interviewed by the committee.
A lot of political influence and institutional support was at play at present for the coveted slot that should be given under the law to a professional of known integrity and competence with at least 15 years of related experience in law, business, engineering finance, accounting, economics or electric utility business.
The three-member interview committee comprised secretaries of cabinet division, establishment division and water and power with minister for water and power being its convener. A total of 71 candidates had applied for the slot out of whom 17 were short- listed on the basis of their age, qualification and experience.