The roads to my house are in terrible condition and have been for months. Who shall I give thanks to?
KARACHI: Each day, my cars get a good battering. The roads to my house are in terrible condition and have been for months. Who shall I give thanks to? Perhaps the land mafia that tried to carve out plots in a mountainside where there was none, and destroyed the service road in the process? Perhaps the local administration that allowed that to happen until the locality got a stay order? Or perhaps the government that is responsible for maintenance and repair of such civic amenities for which we pay exorbitant taxes? Sadly, in Pakistan, the buck doesn’t seem to stop anywhere. It seems to spiral down endlessly into oblivion; much like the state of other things in this country.
Since the government is totally incapable of looking after things on a district level, I’m sure my neighbours would agree that if we had to, we’d rather pool all our resources and fix our roads. That doesn’t absolve the government of its responsibilities though; we shouldn’t have to pitch in to build our roads — that’s among the things we pay taxes for. We have no one to complain to at the local level and people higher up are too busy putting out fires so that they can stay in office. The local government system, with all its flaws, was better. Stop delaying the polls; they’re the need of the hour.
Dr Salim Hossein
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2010.
