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Fixing the Broken Basic Life
Supporting Systems in Pakistan
Today
the people of Pakistan are trying to survive without any life
supporting system. No electricity, no water, no gas, no proper
sewerage system with grave shortage of items of daily use tell
the story of miseries the people of Pakistan are facing. This
scene is not limited to one small town, or a one city, in one
particular province. This is the scene across Pakistan, from
Karachi to Khyber. The people of Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab and
Khyber Pakhutoon Khawa deal with issues related to these broken
basic life supporting systems every where.
They
are burning tires on the roads, shouting slogans, burning
effigies to draw attention of the people in power to these
issues, but only face the police brutality in response from the
government which does not have time for the people of Pakistan.
Yes, they have time for many other shenanigans including
decorating Pakistani medals of honor on the shoulders of
foreign dignitaries, meet the flocking American, European, and
Middle Eastern envoys and discuss war against terrorism and
talk about raising funds which never reach to the people of
Pakistan anyway, but they have no time for the people of
Pakistan.
The
parliament, which looks more like a flock of vultures, has
practically done nothing within last two years. The highly
propagated 18the amendment took hardly few hours to pass. Other
than that, the members of the parliament are available for
public appearances, participate in media programs, but they do
not address the peoples’ issues on the floor of the parliament.
Why don’t they, it is beyond our comprehension. If US Congress
and British Parliament can start hearings on issues of public
interest and take steps to resolve them why Pakistani
parliamentarians don’t?
It is
about time the parliamentarians address the peoples’ issues on
the floor of the parliament and offer some viable solutions.
Since government is non-responsive, the foremost attention
should be paid to the broken basic life supporting systems such
as electricity, water, gas, and sewerage. At least, the people
should have some sort of relief to maintain their livelihood.
If
parliament does not have the power or the money to fix the basic
life supporting systems at least they have the power to
legislate. They have the power to create institutions and
management boards to deal with these issues.
We suggest, if
nothing else, in order to rebuild the broken life supporting
systems such as electricity, water, gas and sewerage the
parliament through its act should create Utility Districts
throughout Pakistan.
The Utility
Districts should be comprised of Board of Directors elected from
among the businessmen in all major cities of Pakistan. These
Utility Districts should be responsible to set-up electricity
generation plants, maintain electricity supply both to
manufacturing/commercials and domestic consumers. These Utility
Districts should also be responsible for Water supplies and
sewerage disposal on their under control territories. These
Utility Districts can be established in major cities along with
responsibility to maintain these systems in small rural towns in
their vicinities.
These Utility
Districts should be funded by the manufacturing and commercial
businesses. They should control and manage these Utility
Districts through their elected Boards. They should bill the
consumers for maintaining and supplying these services and share
the profits.
Creation of
these Utility Districts can guarantee more reliable, sustainable
and healthy life supporting systems to reignite the life in the
dying Pakistan.
Would the
parliamentarians act and create these Utility Districts to save
the soul of Pakistan?
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