Government lacks resources to address woes of the poor

LAHORE: The government lacks resources to address the woes of the poor, who are suffering the most due to the worsening economy, however, there are many difficulties faced by the downtrodden that can be addressed without resources.

The government institutions would have to work according to their given mandate. Law and order for instance is the sole responsibility of the police. If the law enforcers are largely engaged in milking money, law and order would remain poor.

We have addressed terrorism that was a larger menace with the assistance of the army, and also subdued the bhatta mafia in Karachi due to the efforts of the rangers. That shows that if the institutions are strong they can surmount the most difficult problems.

But now, we are seeing a wave of petty crimes in cities. Mobile snatching, car theft, eve teasing still goes on unabated. Most of the victims are from lower middle class.

Why we do not see as many of these petty crimes in DHAs established in all big cities? Why are some big societies, operated privately (like Bahria Town), are safer than rest of the cities? Do they have more resources than the state? It is simply due to better governance that the private sector achieves with skeleton staff that the government could not achieve with thousands of policemen.

Where the localities are well maintained, we do not observe any outlet decanting LPG even outside the best managed societies. The Mall Road at Lahore and the high government offices in its surrounding are an example in this regard.

Same is true for similar government residences in other cities. Another thing worth noting is that road and sewerages built in posh localities on public money are durable and of high standard, while infrastructure built in poor localities lacks quality.

Interestingly, the official cost of similar infrastructure is the same for both posh and poor localities. The only difference is that for any lapse in quality at places where high government officials or richer people live, the contractor and public officials can be taken to task by the influential residents.

In the poor areas on the other hand, the contractor and the government officials compromise on quality and distribute the loot. Poor cannot lodge complaints if there is lapse in quality and those that dare to do so are properly dealt with by the influential officials.

It is surprising that this difference in infrastructure quality has been ignored by the government, perhaps because many of them are partners in crime. This is the case of wastage of resources.

There are other issues too, like the sale of spurious food, use of non-food colours in edible items, open manholes, where resources are not required, but the institutions have to perform according to their given mandate.

We consider these issues minor, but the impact of substandard food or open manhole could be a matter of life and death for some. All that is required is to activate the district administrations that are responsible for regulating these affairs, and make them accountable.

Numerous lives were lost only a few years back in Lahore when an LPG cylinders sales point caught fire during decanting of gas from the large cylinder to a rickshaw cylinder. The law already prohibited establishment of such points in populated localities, but it was never enforced.

The law also did not allow decanting without proper equipment. The district officers assigned to regulate this law however neglected the open violation of the law that in the end killed many innocent people.

No lesson was learnt from the tragedy. Decanting is practiced everywhere in Pakistan.

Encroachments are a menace that could be addressed without any additional resources. The markets are congested due to encroachments.

It is now a norm in Pakistan that shopkeepers display their goods outside their shops on footpaths meant for pedestrians. Vendors supplement their efforts in clogging the pathways forcing pedestrians on roads.

In some bazaars, the movement of traffic is completely blocked. The time and money wasted due to delays caused by encroachments has never been calculated.

The provincial governments would have to keep a strict watch on the district governments to ensure that civic rules are fully observed. Such measures provide immense relief to the common man in the form of saved time and better health.