WHAT Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said in response to a call attention notice by a female legislator in the National Assembly on Tuesday was a classic example of jaundiced and bureaucratic attitude towards an issue of public importance as the reply was clearly detached from the ground realities. Instead of making commitments to resolve problems of the citizens, the Minister accused his colleague of living in an illegal housing scheme in the federal capital and discharging sewage into a dam from where water is supplied to Islamabad.
The MNA – Zahra Wadood Fatemi – deserved appreciation for raising the issue of water shortage and its quality in localities adjoining Lehtrar Road in the rural area of Islamabad. She pointed out that more than 150 hospitals were located along Lehtrar Road, but neither a water supply system nor a water filtration plant was available in the area. The point raised by Zahra Fatemi was only one aspect of the problems being faced by hundreds of localities in the area, which falls under the jurisdiction of the metropolitan corporation. There are issues of electricity, gas, sewage, garbage dumping and traffic, which need urgent attention of the Government but regrettably instead of taking measures to alleviate sufferings of the people, the authorities concerned are harassing the residents every other day on the pretext of illegal status of their settlements and houses. The Minister claimed that around 90 per cent of houses constructed along the Lehtrar Road were illegal and action would have to be taken against them. This might be true but the question arises as to why the Capital Development Authority and the Interior Ministry kept mum in the face of mushroom growth of housing societies. Now when people have made investments worth trillions of rupees, there is only one option – legalize them and provide basic amenities in these areas as their demolition or displacement are out of question. The tendency to shield vested interests at the cost of the general public needs to be reviewed.
