"THE CITIZEN NEWSLETTER"

The Citizen! - Newsletter of the Helpline Trust -  JUSTICE INJUSTICE

email: trust@super.net.pk -               web site: www.helplinetrust.org.pk                 HELP US CHANGE THE SCALE

Straight Talk - Halls of Shame (Printed in the Nation on June 5^th 05).

Way back in the 90s, when TI had nominated Pakistan as the second most corrupt country in the world, Mr. Ardeshir Cowasjee had written an article, How to Shame the Shameless? In an attempt to awake the conscious of the citizens, Mr. Cowasjee had highlighted the corruption and the misuse and abuse of power in government and the sorry state of affairs in our Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

And in 1996, a group of concerned citizens had filed Public Interest litigation in the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the poor services of KESC, KWSB and PTCL. Jst (R ) Ajmal Mian had admitted the appeal. Suggestions, recommendations and orders were issued and various committees and complaint centers were established in all the three utility services.

But almost nine years later, due to continued corruption, mismanagement, negligence and lack of political commitment, the situation is just as dismal and the services of all three agencies, two of which are under army management, have not improved and the services provided by them are still in a complete mess and the citizens of Karachi continue to suffer.

The newspapers carry weekly stories of water riots and of citizens dying from being poisoned by contaminated water. Water drawn from 37 districts of Sindh has been declared as unfit for human consumption and Karachites sweat and suffer sleepless nights due to prolonged power failures.

Recent steps being taken by PTCL to improve its services seem to be having some positive results, but unfortunately KESC seems to be totally unconcerned to the misery of the hapless residents of Karachi and despite its assurance and tall claims, it has not made any serious efforts to improve its services.

Its line losses still stand at 40%, as it did nine years back, (internationally accepted level is below 10%). To compensate for its losses, WAPDA keeps increasing its power tariffs, which are among the highest in the region. And yet, despite high tariffs, the residents of Karachi have to suffer frequent breakdowns, power outages, voltage fluctuations and low voltage problems every summer.

Karachites had heaved a sight a relief when the government had announced in February that a Saudi company had finalized a deal to buy KESC for Rs 20.24 billion. But the transaction has still not been finalized and now we are told that the bidders have been scared away because of un-lawful monetary demands from certain political parties.

Due to the lack of Consumer Protection Laws and enforcement of PSQCA Standards, the existing Food & Drug Laws, almost all medicated syrups, including those of multinational companies, are being sold in unsealed bottles and our markets have been flooded with semi-expired, substandard beverages, food and medicines and the consumers are being cheated by glossy, misleading and unethical advertisements in the print and electronic media.

In a desperate attempt to improve the quality of life of citizens and protect consumers from poor services and such products and misleading advertisements, Consumer Protection Council of Helpline Trust has now been compelled to establish a “Citizen’s Hall of Shame and a “Consumer’s Hall of Shame”.


The objectives are to expose the names of manufacturers who do not observe the PSQCA Standards and the Pure Food & Drug laws. Their names will be added in the Hall of Shame and the list will be forwarded to the relevant government departments for necessary action and to all leading newspapers, TV channels and Trade Bodies and will be posted on the HT web site.

To avoid being in the HALL OF SHAME, manufacturers have been advised, in their own interest, to ensure that they observe Good Manufacturing Practice and the Pure Food and Drug Laws and PSQCA standards and provide date of manufacture and expiry, batch number, gross and net weight and ingredients on the package and use food grade packing material, as prescribed by the Government of Pakistan.

Last Tuesday, another group of concerned citizens met in Karachi and decided to make an attempt to restore Karachi, once a city of grace and beauty and known as a city of lights, to its past glory, by identifying parts of the city that have been victims of callous and cruel neglect and post the locations and the department responsible for negligence and dereliction of duty in the Citizen’s Hall of Shame.

Those who were present at the meeting included Mr. Ardeshir Cowasjee, Maqbool Rahimtoola, Spenta Kandawalla, Hasnain Lotia, Hamir Soomro of Indus Valley and Roland deSouza of Shehri. It was decided in principal that the campaign should be launched by targeting Jehangir Kothari Parade, Clifton as a monument of neglect.

A master plan to restore the JKP to its past glory had been prepared by Yawar Jillani of ARCOP Associates four years back and the group decided to examine the proposal and the possibility of reviving the project.

According to newspaper reports, in its attempt to improve the flow of the chaotic traffic in Karachi, the City Government has launched over 35 mega development programs, which though commendable, can only be described as Operation Overkill, as they have all been launched at the same time and all major roads in the city have been dug up.

There seems to be total lack of planning or coordination between the traffic police and the various agencies that are executing these projects. The two recent examples being the underpass at Schon Circle at Clifton and Hino Roundabout on Korangi Road, which had been just recently repaired and carpeted.

The road leading to the Circle has been closed to traffic, as the entire area has been dug up and the motorists have been forced to use the bye lanes. Yet those managing the project have failed to neither repair the ditches and potholes of these narrow lanes nor control the traffic using these lanes.

Some concerned citizens have also raised serious objections to the basic design and planning of the underpass, as no provision has been provided to motorists for left turns. At the same time, engineers have pointed out that the entire area is reclaimed land and yet no provision has been provided for proper drainage and seepage, which could result in flooding of the underpass during the rainy seasons and its possible collapse in due course.

One can only hope that the Hall of Shame will help us to awaken the civic and social responsibilities of our city fathers, who play a key role in improving the quality of life of the citizens of Karachi and in protecting consumers from being exploited by unscrupulous manufacturers.

To discuss and sensitize the above issues, Helpline Trust, in collaboration with The Reformers, have organized a Straight Talk dialogue with the Governor, Sindh, City Nazim, Karachi, IG Police, DIG Traffic and President, Transporters Union on 24th May, at 4.00 pm at Avari Hotel, Karachi.

Helpline Trust.