Basant or no Basant?: ‘All stakeholders must be represented’
APPMA VP suggests a ‘kite city’ or a ‘kite flying zone’ be built in the suburbs.
LAHORE:
The Kite Flying Association should be represented in the city government committee that is to submit recommendations on the possibility of observing Basant in the city.
The demand was made by All Pakistan Paper Merchants Association (APPMA) vice president Khawaja Naeem Saeed on Thursday.
Saeed urged Khwaja Salman Rafiq, adviser to the chief minister on health, to ensure that at least one member of the Kite Flying Association is on the ‘Observing Kite-Flying Day Committee’ set up by the Dilkash Lahore Committee. Rafiq heads the sub-committee. According to an earlier notification, the sub-committee includes representatives of the Lahore Kite-Flying Association.
Saeed said that unless “all stakeholders are represented” the committee meetings would be a waste of time. He stressed the need for a strategy that would address the apprehensions of the public and government regarding possible loss of lives and use of unsafe kite-strings during Basant and those of the people associated with the kite-flying industry. He demanded that the government take action against the profiteers who had “brought a bad name to kite-flying” and “continue to pass themselves off as members of the kite-flying association”.
Saeed said that he had made a recommendation to the chief minister that the government should build a ‘kite city’ or a ‘kite flying zone’ in the suburbs. This way, he said, the reservations of all stakeholders can be addressed.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2012.
The Kite Flying Association should be represented in the city government committee that is to submit recommendations on the possibility of observing Basant in the city.
The demand was made by All Pakistan Paper Merchants Association (APPMA) vice president Khawaja Naeem Saeed on Thursday.
Saeed urged Khwaja Salman Rafiq, adviser to the chief minister on health, to ensure that at least one member of the Kite Flying Association is on the ‘Observing Kite-Flying Day Committee’ set up by the Dilkash Lahore Committee. Rafiq heads the sub-committee. According to an earlier notification, the sub-committee includes representatives of the Lahore Kite-Flying Association.
Saeed said that unless “all stakeholders are represented” the committee meetings would be a waste of time. He stressed the need for a strategy that would address the apprehensions of the public and government regarding possible loss of lives and use of unsafe kite-strings during Basant and those of the people associated with the kite-flying industry. He demanded that the government take action against the profiteers who had “brought a bad name to kite-flying” and “continue to pass themselves off as members of the kite-flying association”.
Saeed said that he had made a recommendation to the chief minister that the government should build a ‘kite city’ or a ‘kite flying zone’ in the suburbs. This way, he said, the reservations of all stakeholders can be addressed.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2012.