WE read and we hear many good words emanating from our self-serving government, but nothing is ever done, or ever achieved, in the larger interests of the large number of people who inhabit this country — now said to be in the range of 160 million.
However, as far as Karachi is concerned, there is a bit of encouraging news. The newly appointed City Nazim, Mustafa Kemal, has apparently realized that those who built Moenjodaro many thousands of years ago knew what they were doing. He announced last week, via a news item in this publication on November 8, that “.... no road will be constructed without making proper arrangements for drainage.”
Also encouraging for us here is the news that Akhlaq Ahmed, an ex-coordinator of buildings, of sorts, who worked hand in hand with the now doubly retired brigadier who held the post of Chief controller of buildings of the KBCA, has been hauled up and held on charges of corruption. On November 2, the retired brigadier, A S Nasir, presented to the governor of Sindh his letter of resignation which is well worth filing in the national archives. It reads:
“During the past three years under your able command, as Chief Controller, KBCA, I received response, cooperation and overwhelming support to making KBCA a viable organization. During this period, my superiors and associates in CDGK and Government of Sindh tolerated my style and ideosycracies (sic.). I wish all of them luck and success.
“Of late the incident of raid by ACE has not only embarrassed me but has derailed the KBCA. As such, it is prudent that I choose an honourable course of action to vacate my chair. I therefore tender my resignation without any external pressure. My departure will enable Engr. Rauf Akhtar Farooqui, OSD (BPS-20), to continue and obtain your guidance.
“In case my services are needed for any other challenging assignment [God forbid !] I shall be available. Since I am taking this action in haste, I request you to allow me to continue to retain my house for three months and avail [myself of] the facilities of transport of KBCA etc. I will be obliged! Kindly confirm.”
The said Rauf Akhtar Farooqui, an OSD, was suspended many years ago. He and his family have migrated to Canada — he has enough sense to realize the benefits of educating his children in that peaceful, enlightened, freedom-loving country. The problem here is that the party of the presidential coalition, the MQM, is the party which controls Karachi and it has a one-point agenda. It is the MQM party chief who will appoint Karachi’s new chief controller of buildings. The only prevention against mischief is transparency. That we must have — and it is up to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to see that we get it.
The bad news this week is that our prime minister has ordered that the building codes of all provinces be revised and presented to him within one month. This just cannot be done (he is being separately advised).
Reports in the press have it that the building of high-rises having residential accommodation to be sold to the unwary has been suspended in Rawalpindi, Murree, Hyderabad and various other towns. This embargo must also be applied to Karachi.
As to the existing buildings which accommodate both residential and commercial premises, whether they be ‘regularized or not, it is every citizen’s right, in every city and town in this country, to be informed of the safety of the building in which he lives, works, or visits for whatever reasons. In Sindh, the government at the moment seems bent on ensuring that not only are the majority of buildings in Karachi and other cities unsafe or downright dangerous, but it is effectively concealing all information as to the details of these buildings from the tax-paying citizens who fund the running of the government. It is thus aiding and abetting the builders who, in most cases, build and sell improper and relatively unsafe buildings. In the event of an earthquake, the members of this government, together with the builders, will be declared ‘murderers’ as were the criminal controllers and builders in Turkey after the 1999 earthquake.
Now, there exists a Freedom of Information Ordinance, 2002, of which Section 137 (Transparency) of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2001, therein contained states that : “Every citizen shall have the right to information about any office of the District Government, Taluka Municipal Administration and Union Administration.”
From early 1997 to 2002 in this city, under an ‘Oversee Committee’ of the Karachi Building Control Authority set up under Section 4-B of the Sindh Building Control Ordinance 1979 by the caretaker minister of housing (Maqbool Rahimtoola) during the caretaker government period of November 1996 to February 1997, a KBCA public information counter was opened at the Civic Centre. For almost six years, this counter disseminated to the citizens whatever information was required — copies of approved plans, all documentation, no objection certificates, copies of court cases, etc. — at a nominal charge. Such transparency had an adverse affect on the KBCA corruption machine and after the 2002 elections, with the MQM in power, Chief Controller Brigadier Nasir shut shop for very obvious reasons. What is now needed, all over the country, in the various building control authorities and cantonment boards of our cities, is transparency. Copies of all building files structural details and calculations, completion or regularization certificates pertaining to all buildings and to all public sales projects must be made available to all citizens. They can then make their own enquiries and assess the seismic stability of particular structures and decide whether they wish to take a risk, or whether they should undertake rectification measures — risk and stay, or sell out. Surely this right cannot be denied?
E-mail: arfc@cyber.net.pk