Keeping promises

Our politicians are not good at keeping promises. And the Punjab chief minister seems to be no different from the rest. Indeed, he takes the art of promise-making a little further than many by also setting deadlines, to add to the impression that the promise is authentic. But unfortunately, this is not the case. The latest example of this comes in the case of the Murree-Kohala Road. The chief minister had some time ago announced not only the repair of this road, which has been in poor condition for a prolonged time, but also a sanction of Rs50 million to carry out the required work on the road linking Punjab to Azad Kashmir.

However, as people continue to wait, the Punjab Highway Department says the sanctioned amount has not been released. This, of course, means no construction activity has begun on the road, badly marked with potholes and portions that need re-tarring. The state of this important highway has been a source of huge inconvenience to villagers in the Murree area, who must travel down it regularly, and also to tourists visiting what is perhaps, the country’s most popular hill station.

It is astonishing just how short-sighted our politicians can be. Quite beyond their duty of meeting the needs of people they represent, they must surely realise that broken promises inflict great damage on their image and their standing. When a man such as the chief minister makes a commitment, people expect it to be met. They also remember what was said. The failure to deliver on these words can only further undermine the credibility of our leaders. It also, of course, inflicts further misery on people, who have also pointed out that even elected representatives from Murree have failed to take any interest in the matter or attempt to move ahead with the tasks of repair that urgently need to be undertaken in view of the pledge made by CM Shahbaz Sharif, who has often said he is a man who likes to deliver. He should, in this case, then be moving on with doing just this.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th,  2014.

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