There has been a great influence of a certain political party, but has been ineffective at helping town make progress
LARKANA: Lashari Town is one of the oldest towns of the Indus Valley civilisation, 25 kilometres away from Larkana. This town is between Bungoldero and Toofchoosil under Ratodero tehsil and has 13 to 15 small villages around it. A population of approximately 13,000 to 15,000 people depends on Lashari Town as people visit the town daily for their primary needs. The town, on the one hand, has many facilities like rice mills, ice machines for the summer, a high school, a small bank, medical stores, big general stores, one or two small private academic educational centres, and one small, ineffective hospital. On the other hand, these facilities have neither been improved by private owners nor have they been further developed and maintained by the government.
Firstly, the town’s infrastructure has been annihilated completely. I was born in this town in 1995 and since then, I have observed no development. Education-wise, its literacy rate has decreased. A few months ago, I visited the town, failed to observe even a single positive change and was astounded. Secondly, the same daily hurdles exist for patients as before because hospital services are inefficient and unable to provide adequate care. People try to go to Larkana to make use of the medical facilities there, which is difficult to manage especially when a patient is in a critical condition. Doctors present in the town have caused many casualties due to their incompetence and lack of qualifications in medical science. Thirdly, there has been a great influence of a certain political party, which has been working effectively in politics, but has been ineffective at helping the town make progress. Rather, key institutions of the town have further deteriorated. Lastly, Lashari Town has recently been influenced by a wave of religiosity. There are people, who, despite possessing no authorised degree in Islamic law, issue verdicts on trivial matters on the basis of their limited religious knowledge.
I urge the Sindh government to look into the ordeals of Lashari Town so that the suffering of the people can be mitigated.
Sajjad Ali Shah
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2015.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
