Municipal neglect

For far too long in this country, we have let municipal authorities neglect safety of our children, other loved ones.

Our local governments in cities across the country have failed in creating safe environments in our neighbourhoods. The most recent evidence of this comes from Faisalabad, where a three-year-old girl died after falling into an open sewerage drain. Her four-year-old brother also jumped in after her to save his sister. In the ongoing blame game we play daily in the country, the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) claimed in response that it was unable to cover the 15-foot-wide drain due to missing funds from the government.

Whoever is to blame for the neglectful act of leaving such a wide drain uncovered — whether it is the local government, municipal corporation, or WASA — should be fined. Going further, this is an imperative time for introspection into a city’s safety infrastructures. In most advanced nations, the safety of people comes first. In our city projects especially, where there is high population density, safety contingency plans must be included in the blueprints of all projects, big or small.

Furthermore, a socially conscious government should also include in project budgets the cost of including these safety plans. In case that not enough funds exist for a safety contingency plan, the project should not be permitted to begin. This requires a vigilance committee to oversee that all systems are perfect and that proper safety measures are in place for all such initiatives. There is no room for debate when it comes to discussing the safety of citizens.

For far too long in this country, we have let municipal authorities neglect the safety of our children and other loved ones. While the lives lost due to various cases of neglect cannot be recovered — whether it was an open sewerage drain or faulty electrical wires — we can take a stronger stance against those in authority who continue to allow this to happen. We have a lot of work to do to raise the value of human life in Pakistan and reinstill regard for the safety of people.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2014.

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