THE recent report about hike in power tariff reminded me of an incident that underlines the difference between responsible and irresponsible governments. In the mid-1960s, Aftab Ghulam Nabi Kazi, popularly known as A.G.N. Kazi, was holding a critical portfolio when Wahdat Colony in Lahore was built for government employees. After the houses were ready, they were allotted to the employees, but the allottees demanded the payment of Rs80 per month as travelling allowance because of the distance between the colony and the secretariat.

Kazi, a senior bureaucrat, kept his cool. He took a ride in a public bus to Wahdat Colony and returned to office. The next day he attached the two bus tickets on the relevant file, and, after calculation, approved a little more than the cost of actual fare that he had paid. The matter stood resolved because it was based on first-hand facts that nobody could argue against. This was when Pakistan was progressing economically.

Today, the decision-makers have zero understanding of the ground realities. They take decisions sitting in their ivory towers, knowing that someone else would put up the cost of their extravagance. The general public happens to be the direct victim of the extravagance of politicians and bureaucrats.

Ali Ashraf Khan
Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2023