Pointless spending

The state presented an Rs18877 billion budget with an allocation of Rs1674 billion for development. This is not a new practice. Every year billions are drained into development but it has no effect. Ostensibly, the process is in reverse proportion the more that is being drained into development the more we are becoming underdeveloped. For instance, the street lights installed last year are out of order, the roads constructed a couple of years ago wear out and become worse than they were a decade ago, the protection wall constructed to protect agricultural land – itself drowned in the river, schools still need furniture and hospitals have no beds. Pakistan has spent trillions in development in the last 77 years but has brought no development. This is a symptom of some deeper malaise which is yet to be diagnosed. Without investigating this deep-rooted issue every penny spent on development is in vain.

Anas Tariq

Kurram