Arfa Karim Nagar remains neglected

The government failed to fulfill its commitments to Arfa Karim Nagar's residents for the past decade. Multiple development schemes were promised to turn the late Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) Arfa Karim's native home into a model village. Arfa Karim Randhawa was born to a Jutt Randhawa family at Chak 4-JB. In 2004, at the age of 9, she became the youngest MCP in the world, a title she held until 2008.

To recognise her outstanding performance, remarkable intellect and services, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who served as Chief Minister of Punjab in 2012, decided that a case must be submitted to Secretary Local Government and Community Development (LG&CD) to establish Arfa Karim Nagar as a model village.

Accordingly, cost estimates of around Rs158.2 million were sent to the office of Commissioner Faisalabad for further communication with the LG&CD Department to release funds.

The projects included the construction of a rural drainage scheme; provision of potable drinking water in rural areas; agricultural equipment and laser land leveling services; improvement of the road leading to the Arfa Karim Nagar graveyard and upgrading the civil dispensary into a basic health unit among others. Out of ten projects, the government only completed three, including improving roads and renovating a school and dispensary. The remaining projects have yet to be completed.

Having observed the government's inaction, residents of Arfa Karim Nagar seized the initiative and established the Village Wash Committee to remove solid waste from streets and bazaars, under the supervision of the Arfa Karim Foundation in 2019.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2023.