Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space. They are published in good faith with a view to enlightening all the stakeholders. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.
Thanks Claudia
Thanks a lot, once again, Claudia for urging the world community to write off the debt of Pakistan, which, as very aptly said by you, has been hit by the worst floods in its living memory. As known to the world, 1/3 of Pakistan is under flood water now, 100’s of precious lives have been lost, acres and acres of standing crops have been completely destroyed, thousands of people have been rendered homeless, massive destruction has been caused to the infrastructure in the flood-devastated areas.
All this presents a doomsday scenario. It would take Pakistan years to steer itself out of this crisis of unparalleled magnitude. Like you, and all others who are sympathetic towards Pakistan in its profoundly trying times, I too make a fervent entreaty to the opulent world countries to demonstrate magnanimity, and write off Pakistan’s debt. Let us hope and pray our entreaty is heard, and Pakistan gets the much needed relief that it so genuinely deserves.
Islamabad
M FAZAL ELAHI
Islamabad
LESCO clarification
LESCO billing system is quite confusing and problematic unlike other utilities such as gas and telephone bills. LESO meters reading is done around 16 to 18 of a month, bills are sent to the consumers around 20 to 22 of a month and they are given just a couple of days for payment of the hefty bills. The bills which the consumers received for July 2022 contained meter reading up to 15 July 2022 only. LESCO does not bill the consumers on full month-to-month basis apparently for taking some accounting advantages and benefits.
It is pertinent to ask LESCO authorities whether the Fuel Adjustment Surcharge for June 2022 in July bills is full month of June 2022 or for just one fortnight of the month. An early clarification will remove much confusion prevailing in the minds of the consumers particularly among the minds of tenants and landlords of the houses who have just shifted from one rented premises to another one, please.
LESCO may urgently give clarification in this regard in the newspapers through press release or letters columns, please. Telephone and cells numbers given on the back of the bill are all unresponsive as they remain engaged all the time.
M Z RIFAT
Lahore
Follow footsteps of St Teresa
of Kolkata
On 8 September, the Catholic Church all over the world celebrates the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary who is also known as the role model of mercy. It is also a time for each one of us to introspect on the values of St Teresa, who founded the Missionaries of Charity and worked to support the poor and the downtrodden. This is also an invitation for us to imitate the values by reaching out to the poor and the needy of the broken world and the shattered society, particularly those isolated and neglected by society. Let’s open our hearts and reach out to the people who need our help and care. There is a need to help the unemployed people who go into depression and frustration caused by unemployment and take up negative ways like alcoholism, drug addiction and other wrong ways.
This is an invitation for us to imitate St. Teresa of Kolkata, who is known for ministering the sick and the dying in the world’s poorest areas. We have to imitate St. Teresa of Kolkata to help who are not just physically sick, but those who are affected by different sort of addictions like drug addiction, alcoholism, etc. Hence, let’s pray to St. Teresa that she will lead us in the right path to follow Christ’s divine path to heaven.
JUBEL D’CRUZ
Mumbai, India
Desperate needs of dams
According to the Global Climate Risk Index, Pakistan is the 8th most affected state due to climate change disaster. Environmentalists have given warnings about the risks of weather disasters for Pakistan. But no one pays heed, even the government is not serious about the risk of climate change.
Climate change is not mere a warning but its happening now. Heat waves, droughts, wild fires, glacier melting and water crisis etc are already happening in Pakistan. Recent devastation of floods have reminiscent of the floods of 2010 due to which thousand died and million became homeless. But the government and policy-makers didn’t learn from that disaster. No such steps had been taken so that people could be saved from such disasters in future. Alas! again hapless people become victim.
Moreover, the root cause of the floods is lacking of dams which store and control water. From past forty years Pakistan has not built any big dam. Pakistan desperately needs more dams to protect the people from such disastrous floods and also to save water for future utilization, as the country is already in crippling water and energy crisis. Diamer Basha and Mohmand are two big dams which are under construction. If the said dams are completed earlier, the people would not face such destructive floods. Procrastination and politics on dams such as the Kalabagh have left the state more vulnerable to the climate change disasters.
Furthermore to save the people from such floods, Pakistan should build more dams. Government should expedite work on Basha and Mohmand dams to complete these early as possible. The government and all stakeholders should decide about more dams and especially the Kalabagh Dam. Take politics aside, it is utmost to save the people from scourge of climate change. If we cannot eliminate the risk of climate change, we must neutralize it.
YOUSAF SULTAN
Peshawar
