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JUNE
2008
ISSUES:
Saddar,
Lea Market pay Rs25m in extortion money every month
Millions
of rupees change hands in Karachi everyday in the form of “bhatta”
or protection money. The beneficiaries include all sorts of people, from
ordinary police constables to officials sitting at the top echelons of
power, while the payment is made by hawkers, shopkeepers, motorists,
traders, industrialists, land grabbers, and the like.
According to a survey conducted by the Urban Resource Centre (URC),
hawkers at the Saddar and Lea Market area pay Rs25 million per month as
bhatta. The informal sector is in fact a constant and lucrative source
of illegal earnings.
“Bhatta or protection money is collected by one of the vendors every
day and then handed over to employees of traffic police, the [now
defunct] Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s land department, and area
Station House Officer (SHO),” a police official told The News
requesting anonymity. He says “bhatta” is also collected by the
employees of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) and Karachi
Electric Supply Corporation.
Shopkeepers have to suffer immensely if they did not pay “bhatta” to
the police.
“The entire attention of the Preedy police is focused on collecting
“bhatta” from vendors. Police mobiles are busy in collecting money
between 5pm to 9pm and this is the most opportune time for robbers to
loot the people,” says Mairaj Ahmed Khan, general secretary, Zargram
Welfare Association. He says failure to pay “bhatta” results in high
repercussions and the police instead of investigating robberies and
apprehending them, harass jewelers.
In a letter addressed to IG Sindh, Dr Shoab Suddle, the Association
points out that not a single robber has been arrested nor looted goods
were recovered which were committed in Saddar jewelry shops and
workshops between 2006 and 2008 despite the fact that the First
Information Report (FIR) was lodged at the Preedy police station after
every robbery.
“Instead of apprehending the robbers, police very often ask odd
questions such as why the jewellery was not insured, why gold in such a
huge quantity was kept at workshops and the police allege that we were
lodging fake FIRs,” Khan says.
Even hawkers who have authorised businesses are made to suffer.
“We have 735 newspaper stalls in the city approved by the CDGK and we
have NOCs from the City Nazim but we too have to suffer when kiosks are
removed by the CDGK in connivance with the police,” says Iqbal Loon,
President Anjuman Imdadia Akhbar Farooshaan Karachi.
Interestingly, while protection money is paid to the police by hawkers,
there is a well organized “bhatta” system prevailing in the police
department itself and even beyond.
“There are more than 100 police stations in Karachi and police
stations at Gadap, Malir, Memon Goth, Surjani Town, Manghopir, Ibrahim
Haidery, Sachal, Korangi, Mochko, Kalri, Baghdadi, Kalakot, Chakiwara,
Boat Basin, Bin Qasim and Shah Latif Town are the most lucrative,”
says a police official on condition of anonymity. He says in the
jurisdiction of some police stations drug mafia is active and it pays
handsome “bhatta” to the respective police stations. Then in areas,
such as Gadap, the “reti bajri” mafia pays “bhatta” to the
respective police stations. Deadly drugs such as heroin and deadly arms
such as Kalashnikovs are brought to the city through the Super Highway
and drug barons and gangsters pay a handsome “bhatta” to the
respective police stations.
Police stations are divided in accordance with the illegal money they
generate and police officials are posted there after paying a huge sum
of money to senior officials.
“The
posting of a Station House Officer (SHO) at a lucrative police station
costs Rs300,000 to Rs500,000 while a Town Police Officer (TPO) has to
pay more than Rs1 million to get a nice posting,” police sources said.
The sources said the modus operandi until the recent past was that the
home minister would ask the IG police to depute a particular police
officer at a lucrative police station who in turn would ask the DIG to
issue a requisition. Most of the “bhatta” money in turn would go in
the coffers of top officials. Obviously, after paying a handsome bribe,
police officials resort to extortion or “bhatta” collection to
compensate their investment.
“Bhatta” is collected by what in the police parlance called “beaters”
who collect money from hawkers, shopkeepers, traders, industrialists and
land grabbers etc and it is then distributed among the top officials and
the subordinates. In return, they are allowed to function smoothly. The
sources said that two senior police officials collect the “bhatta”
money and then distribute from the top to bottom.
Police stations at the suburbs of the city are more lucrative because
huge sums of money are involved in land disputes and land grabbing.
Similarly, “reti bajri” mafia that has virtually killed the Malir
River pay a huge amount to police for lifting sand and gravel from the
Malir and Gadap area. According to Arif Hasan “60 billion cubic feet
of sand and gravel has been drained from the river so far”.
The informal sector is ready to pay a certain fee to the government if
it is not harassed and coerced by government officials. The informal
sector offers immense job opportunities to the poor and could be a good
source of revenue.
(By
Shahid Husain, The News-13, 15/06/2008)
An
electrifying transport solution
Besides
poverty and squalor, what all South Asian cities have in common is a
highly congested, heavily polluted, chaotic and unsafe transportation
system. Poor urban transport is lowering the quality of life in at least
three ways, besides contributing massively to climate change—the
gravest threat humanity faces today.
First, traffic congestion means that people waste long periods of time
in commuting, typically in unpleasant or nerve-wracking conditions
marked by fierce rivalry for road-space. In many cities, commuting time
has doubled over the past decade. Second, air pollution is causing
grievous health damage, including respiratory problems and psychological
stress. Third, transport expenses are rising, leading to cuts in
spending on other necessities of life.
All these problems are getting aggravated as cars and two-wheelers
proliferate in our cities, driven by rampant middle class consumerism
and by policies which promote and subsidise them. In recent years,
private vehicle production has risen in South Asia at rates much higher
than GDP growth, typically 10 percent-plus. In India, car production has
doubled over 5 years. Mid-sized—and more polluting—sedans are
replacing small cars. Automobile emissions of suspended particulate
matter (SPM), and oxides of nitrogen and sulphur, account for 60
percent-plus of the air-pollution load in our cities. Fine particulates
contain some 40 known carcinogens. It’s estimated that a
representative Delhi household would annually earn a benefit Rs 19,870
and in Kolkata Rs84,355 from reduced emissions of particulates. This
translates into hundreds of billions for India alone!
Yet thanks to automobilisation, 57 per cent of all monitored Indian
cities now record “critical” SPM levels, exceeding one-and-a-half
times the permissible standard. India’s top 10 “hotspots” include
small cities like Raipur, Kanpur, Alwar and Indore, but no metropolises.
The entry of the Tatas’ Nano will make things worse although its price
is unlikely to remain at the “magical” Rs 1 lakh for long. It’s
unlikely that the Nano can meet, without a hefty price rise, the Euro-IV
emission norms which take effect in India in 2010. In any case, its
sheer numbers, and those of other models on the way, will cause more
pollution and congestion. Yet, shamefully, India has just lowered excise
duties on small cars. This policy direction must be urgently reversed.
We must promote public transport, and discourage private vehicles.
Private transport means resource waste, and iniquitous use of
road-space. In our cities, cars and two-wheelers hog 60 to 80 per cent
of road-space, but only deliver 15 to 20 per cent of passenger trips.
Buses occupy under 20 per cent of road-space, yet account for up to 60
per cent of trips.
Cars demand high maintenance, repairs and parking space. They usually
occupy prime space—even when unused. Studies show that if owners were
made to pay the economic rent for parking, many would stop using cars.
At Mumbai’s Nariman Point, the true annual market price of
parking-space for a car would exceed its cost 10 times over!
Runaway
private transport growth must be curbed through higher taxation—current
rates are unacceptably low—, stiff parking fees, Singapore-style bans
on use of odd- and even-numbered cars, carpools, and extensive
pedestrians-only zones.
Above all, we must promote efficient, affordable, non-polluting public
transport, and bicycles. If Paris can have 200 km of bicycle paths, so
can Delhi, Karachi or Dhaka. Bus Rapid Transit, with dedicated
bus-lanes, is a worthy idea, and is being pursued in many European
cities. Regrettably, Delhi’s BRT was poorly planned and implemented,
without public education. It was all but sabotaged by an elite-driven
media campaign. But we all need well-planned BRTs.
Electricity-powered transportation has a special place in any rational
urban transport system, including Metro rail, trams and trolley-buses
drawing power from overhead lines. Electric transport is non-polluting
and noiseless.
We shouldn’t unthinkingly promote Metros. They cost 10 times more than
BRTs and require heavy use (20,000 to 40,000 passenger-trips per hour
per line) to pay for themselves. Most of our cities don’t have that
commuting pattern.
Today’s phenomenal, yet subsidised, petroleum prices make electric
vehicles (EVs) especially attractive. Insofar as we permit (limited)
private transport, battery-operated cars/2-wheelers are especially
relevant. They cost only about one-tenth as much to run as petrol-driven
vehicles. EVs also encourage reduced dependence on fossil fuels, and
frugal use of space and materials.
I’ve used an electric car—the Indian-made Reva, the world’s
largest-selling purely-electric car—for more than three years. I find
it almost as easy to drive/maintain as a bicycle. EVs are extremely
simple and don’t have complex systems like fuel pumping,
injection/mixing, electric synchronisation, gearbox-based transmission,
and pollution- and noise-control mechanisms. Their battery-driven motor
sits on the axle and transmits power directly via traction. The
gear-free driving is pure pleasure.
I have had only one problem with the Reva, necessitating a
shock-absorber change. EVs have a carbon footprint—from manufacture
and assembly of components, and consumption of materials, to final waste
disposal. But 80 per cent of the life-cycle pollution from petrol/diesel
vehicles is caused during their running. Here, EVs score decisively.
Admittedly, EVs aren’t easily amenable, at today’s battery
technology, to use in large-scale public transportation. They have a
limited range, typically 60 to 130 km, depending on battery design. They
need frequent recharging: typically, two to six hours a day, for three
to five days a week.
EVs aren’t spacious “family vehicles”. Most existing electric cars
can seat two adults and two children comfortably. (The Reva can pull
four adults in cramped conditions.) With some planning of one’s trip,
and proper charging, one can comfortably negotiate a city with an EV.
Personally, I have never been stuck with a dead battery even while
driving all the way to the international airport from Central Delhi and
back.
Driving an EV can transform one’s experience of our roads as sites of
tension, cut-throat competition, mouthing of abuse and display of rage.
There is, then, a strong case for public support for EVs. Besides
launching trolley-buses and reviving/strengthening trams, this can take
three forms. First, our governments should offer EVs price subsidies and
rebates in VAT, road taxes, free parking facilities, etc.
Many European Union governments do so. EVs enjoy free parking in London,
besides 100 per cent depreciation in the first year. They pay no
congestion charge (GBP 8 a day) in Central London. Apart from price
subsidies, France mandates that 20 per cent of all new cars in public
fleets must be electric. In Italy, EVs enjoy a 30 per cent price rebate,
free parking and road-tax exemptions. In Japan, EVs get handsome tax
support, besides ¥20 billion funding for battery development.
Thus, ironically, there are more Revas running in London than in
Bangalore, where they’re made. The Delhi government has just announced
a rebate of 29.5 per cent on EVs. Other Indian states—and provinces in
our region—should emulate it.
Second, our governments must initiate programmes for developing
lightweight, high-power batteries (e.g. lithium-ion), preferably in a
collaborative South Asian mode. Most EVs use lead-acid batteries, whose
basic design is more than 100 years old. This must change.
Third, governments must create an infrastructure in the form of free
charging-points in city centres and major car-parks, which will greatly
enhance the range of EVs and make them considerably more attractive and
competitive with small petrol-driven cars.
(By
Praful Bidwai, The News-6, 30/06/2008)
It’s
not only the Kunda system that is the problem...
Massive
power theft across the city by industrial and upscale residential
consumers has created an off the book economy thriving at the cost of a
20-plus-per cent power distribution loss to the Karachi Electric Supply
Company (KESC). This translates into the power utility’s account being
deprived of roughly Rs25 billion in revenue against power units
consumed, claimed sources.
According to the KESC management, for last 11 months the power utility
has been suffering from an accumulative transmission and distribution
loss of about 30 to 34 per cent, of which only 12 to 13 per cent can be
attributed to technical loss. It shows that 18-20 per cent of the power
is being siphoned off. Officially, the KESC administration acknowledges
that 12-13 per cent out of the cumulative ‘25-27 per cent’
electricity being lost is due to technical reasons. Tanzeem Hussain
Naqvi, the executive director of KESC’s business operation and
distribution, attributed the rest of the non-technical loss to power
theft. However, the ‘rest’ is around 20 per cent and not just 15-16
per cent as the KESC officially claims.
According to international standards, say critics, the transmission and
distribution loss of a power utility must not exceed five to six per
cent. In the KESC’s case, this figure has been over 100 per cent
higher. “And that abnormal technical loss for KESC keeps going up,”
says a KESC source.
When asked about the reason behind the excessive technical loss, Naqvi,
who once had served KESC as its chairman, cites an ‘overloaded system’
as the main culprit. Acknowledging that a five to six per cent loss was
the international standard, he maintained that the menace of power theft
could not be wiped out.
Describing the KESC’s measures to address the issue, Naqvi said that
the KESC, during the last year, had increased the total units of power
sold to consumers by eight per cent. This shows that the KESC has
minimized the technical losses.
Similarly, the power utility also improved its power generation by 2.1
per cent of the total units generated. “Ideal condition is almost next
to impossible,” Naqvi said. “We can not put an end to it but
certainly we can strive to curtail the losses.”
And who’s responsible for the power theft? According to the KESC,
registered consumers have been employing ever-evolving techniques to
utilize a maximum quantity of electricity while being billed for a
minimum amount, which is then dutifully paid. “Indeed it’s the
legitimate consumer who steals electricity,” Naqvi agreed. The KESC
believes that commercial consumers followed by residential and then
industrial consumers are stealing almost a quarter of what the power
generating units produce for distribution. Independent sources with
intimate knowledge of the KESC’s functioning blame the industries and
agricultural farming for stealing away the major chunk of a total of
power theft.
“Farmers in Malir and Gadap Towns run 30-horse power motors to get
water from the tube wells and they are for sure running their show with
the out-of-the-way help extended by the (KESC) staff, who facilitate
such a brazen power theft with all-out technical support,” commented a
power auditor, who has been surveying the area for the power utility.
Recently, a KESC staffer was arrested for allegedly running a plastic
factory in Baldia Town using 45 illegally-acquired kilowatts, which,
according to the raiding party, was sufficient to cater to the needs of
at least 50 houses. “This is a perfect example of having an off the
book economy being run at the cost of compromising the city of lights,”
commented another source, privy to the case.
Everybody agrees with the idea of containing the losses that come under
the head of power theft to not only make the power company profitable
but also to turn it into an efficient service provider for its over two
million consumers. That said, how to go after the ‘power thieves’ is
a question nobody seems coming up with a plausible fix for. The
experiment, therefore, is on.
The KESC has already started replacing its old copper distribution wire
with aerial bundle cable in many parts of the city making it virtually
impossible for any one to steal electricity from the consumer
distribution lines. Similarly, the management has introduced new
porcelain connector, which deters Kunda connections.
However, this initiative was taken in downtrodden localities such as the
seven colonies of Orangi Town, Asia’s largest slum, instead of the
upscale residential and commercial neighbourhoods such as Defence,
where, according to the KESC Shareholders Association, the margin of
stealing electricity is always higher than other middle-class
localities.
“We have analysed this paradox. After finding out the total number of
consumers in Defence and their total billing, we got a strange sum [of]
Rs500 in hand as the average bill paid by each house,” Choudhary
Mazhar Ali, secretary of the KESC Shareholders Association (KSA) told
The News while exclaiming as to who could believe this position.
According to the KSA, industries followed by upscale residential areas
and commercial and agricultural consumers are the top three ‘power
thieves’ whereas the Kunda system in middle-class neighbourhoods
siphon off hardly one per cent of the power supplied to the consumer.
“One per cent power theft means financial loss of about Rs1 billion to
the KESC,” Mazhar Ali added. The KESC sources said that Shahid Hamid,
the slain head of the utility, had a proposal of dividing the city into
26 zones installing bulk head metres at each zone’s transforming entry
to be able to know exactly what was supplied and what was billed. “This
did not happen in letter and spirit,” said a power auditor. “The
widespread power theft goes on in connivance with the KESC staff.”
Interestingly, the KESC, incorporated in 1913, has its own KESC police
with a police station to have a check on power theft. However, many
critics deemed it a bargaining agent between defaulters and the KESC
rather than a solid actor against electricity stealers to book them for
violating and depriving the KESC its due revenue.
The KESC has been mustering 1,800 to 2,000 megawatts electricity from
its power generation units while its demand has grown to range between
2,400 to 2,500 megawatts thus leaving the power utility struggling with
a shortfall of 400 to 500 megawatts. “This is why you see the KESC
announcing shut down notices time and again specially during the summer
season. “
(By
Asadullah, The News-13, 30/06/2008)
Is
it transparent now?
THE
new government has made the defence budget relatively transparent. The
new defence budget now discloses expenditure on personnel, operations
and assets. It also contains service-wise breakup. Although the
disclosure is still not perfect and a lot of people expect more details,
the availability of some information as compared to the one-line budget
of the past is an essential first step. It shows that the new military
leadership had realised that it could not improve the organisation’s
image without making some basic concessions including relative
transparency of its spending. How far the appetite for greater
information will be satisfied will depend on this — and the successive
— government’s ability to capitalise upon this opportunity to expand
its power vis-à-vis the armed forces.
Broadly speaking, there are two patterns of transparency in military
expenditure. The first relates to the Nato definition of defence
spending which clearly specifies that it would include all activities,
even those in the civilian sector and by para-military forces, which are
designed to strengthen the military’s capability.
The Nato classification includes pension, defence industry, special
projects and all other defence related spending.
The other pattern relates to the Indian definition of the defence budget
that provides certain amount of details but does not meet the Nato
definition. The Indian budget gives breakdowns for the three services
and also figures of annual capital expenditure versus operations
spending. Since there is no hard and fast rule about what each country
will reveal, Pakistan seems to have followed the latter approach. This
pattern represents the via media between civilian demand for greater
information and the military’s sensitivity for some amount of secrecy.
It could be argued that it is not impossible to follow the US and
British pattern of disclosure of defence estimates, but given the
colonial nature of the military institution, the figures which have been
provided now are better than the complete opacity of the past. This
transparency is a historic milestone on, hopefully, what will turn out
to be a road to greater transparency and better civilian control of the
defence sector. Improved civilian authority over the armed forces is a
corollary of greater transparency and vice versa.
A more confident civilian government means the one which makes the
military and the country at large confident of its ability to deliver
and govern the state. In Pakistan’s historical context, the military
is a political force to reckon with and it would have to be convinced of
the ability of the political dispensation to govern the country to
cooperate more. A glance at the recently released budgetary figure of
Rs295.306bn shows that the armed forces are spending 34 per cent on
personnel, 28 per cent on operations, 4.1 per cent on travel, 29.7
percent on physical assets (meaning weapons), 8.7 per cent on civil
works and 23.9 per cent goes on general expenditure. The service-wise
breakdown is 43 per cent is the army’s share, 24 per cent is for the
air force, and 9.8 per cent for the navy and 22.5 per cent goes to
inter-services and defence production institutions. The teeth-to-tail
ratio appears negative.
The defence budget does not include approximately Rs45bn in military
pensions nor does it necessarily disclose off-budget financing. There
are definitional issues as well such as where to classify retired
military personnel that continue to work in civilian departments whose
pay and personnel cost is not charged to the defence budget. Then there
are other expenses incurred by the civilian local governments on behalf
of military establishments or in cantonment areas which does not show up
as part of military expenditure. One could go on and on with details of
where the lines between military and civilian spending are fuzzy.
Tabulating all such figures we could reach a total of Rs350-360bn. This
does not mention the spending on the nuclear programme, not all of which
can be found in this more transparent defence budgetary figure.
But let’s not complain about the current level of transparency. The
greater problem is with the other claim regarding the possible reduction
of defence spending which cannot happen due to the following reasons.
First, the current configuration of the military does not allow for a
substantial reduction of the military’s long-term liabilities such as
personnel cost. A noticeable reduction can happen in two situations: (a)
a unilateral decision by Pakistan (within a regional arms control
framework) to disarm and (b) change the structure of the military by
making it less labour intensive and more capital intensive. These are
serious political decisions which cannot be taken until the government
is stable and the Defence Cabinet Committee of the Parliament (DCC) is
strong enough to make such decisions.
Second, currently the DCC depends upon the military for input. The 22
parliamentary committees, which were formed during the 1970s as a result
of ‘higher defence re-organisation’ of the Bhutto days, do not have
a system whereby independent opinion is sought to corroborate the
information provided by the military intelligence services and the
service headquarters. For example, during the 1980s, the air and naval
headquarters had played up external threat to force the government to
allow the services to buy a certain category of French missiles. Since
the government then did not have an alternative source of information,
it gave in to the demands. The present parliament could either encourage
a system of lobbying by various stakeholders as happens in the US or
allow for the streamlining of the defence bureaucracy for better
information.
This brings me to the third issue of the lack of capacity of the
existing Ministry of Defence (MoD). Over the years, the MoD has become
impotent due to its militarisation and lack of expertise. The MoD should
be manned by experts who know management of defence. This means training
of bureaucrats and bringing in outside experts. The Pakistani civilian
bureaucrats, especially of the MoD, are no comparison to their more
powerful counterparts in India. The appointment of military officers in
key positions in the ministry has completely weakened the ability of the
civilian bureaucrats to deliver. An under-capacitated MoD bureaucracy
cannot reduce the wastage in the defence budget which is estimated to be
over 20 per cent. This means that we cannot have reduction in the short
or medium terms.
Fourth, accountability is a crucial factor. There are structural flaws
in the military’s accounting and auditing system which currently
encourages wastage.
Finally, given the military’s existing plans to carry out military
modernisation, it does not seem that immediate defence burden will
reduce substantially in the short to medium term. Thus, a short-term
suggestion one could offer the existing parliament is to hold a
conference of experts on military expenditure and defence accountability
in which international and national experts could apprise the government
about how to go about its business of dealing with the defence burden.
If the cat is to be belled, let it be done properly.
(By
Ayesha Siddiqa, Dawn-7, 20/06/2008)
Keti
Bunder facing sea intrusion
About
28,000 people of Keti Bunder may suffer a major displacement in the next
10 years as the sea is fast eroding their land. With the construction of
dams and barrages upstream and stoppage of water downstream, the pace of
sea intrusion has increased over the decades. The area has become highly
vulnerable to cyclones and tsunamis as mangroves that serve as natural
barriers to these calamities are being uprooted at an alarming rate.
These facts were highlighted during a tour of journalists to the deltoid
region. The visit was organised by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Karachi.
Deprived
of basic facilities such as a water supply and proper sanitation, and
with no infrastructure for health and education, the impoverished
fishermen bitterly spoke of the government’s continued indifference
and the neglect of society at large during the journalists’ visit to
the area. “Every monsoon, fishermen suffer damages due to rising sea
tides. However, there was no help ever from any official quarters. Last
week, most fishermen in the affected creek areas spent the night in
boats as many houses were inundated in front of their eyes and their
precious belongings were lost,” said Mohammad Siddique, who with many
others had shifted to the inland area of Babu Dablu village near the
Keti Bunder Town from Chaan and Hajamro creeks a few years ago. Though
the coastal area faces a number of problems, the foremost is the lack of
drinking water supply. Keti Bunder has no direct line for drinking water
while official work on the same continues at a snail’s pace. Water is
brought in through tankers and is sold for Rs1,000 to Rs2,000 a trip.
Landlords buy water, some store it in their tanks, which is then
supplied to inland and creek areas. Four to five gallons of water is
sold at Rs25 to R30.
Middlemen,
who give credit to fishermen on interest and then continue to exploit
them for generations, are also supported by landlords. “The Shirazis
and Malkanis have established their hegemony in coastal areas and are
exploiting marine resources as well as poor fishermen. They claim that
the creeks are their property and extort money from fishing people,”
said a fisherman.
Over 90 per cent of the population of Keti Bunder is illiterate and
lives well below the poverty line. Sea intrusion, which has become
faster in recent decades, has swallowed up 28 dehs (settlements) out of
the 42 and the population has been displaced thrice. Abject poverty,
disease and government apathy have left the people hopeless and almost
the entire population has been hooked to gutka. Even women and children
are not free of the addiction. Some non-government organisations are
doing their bit, but that is too little to improve the lives of
thousands of people.
“What is there to live for? Gutka is a big relief. It helps us to get
rid of hunger, pain and the agony and weakness of illness,” said
another fisherman. About the exploitative tactics of the middlemen, he
said these people provided poor fishermen with loans for meeting travel
expenses.
“Things were not that bad when I was young. We used to have a good
catch and lived a healthier life. Now, it’s difficult even to feed
children during off season,” said Mohammad Hasan, an old man with poor
health and eyesight. “My eye problem has spread to such an extent that
I can’t even see now. I went to a doctor in Gharo, but I couldn’t
continue the treatment since I didn’t have money. I spend my entire
day sitting on the chair listening to surrounding voices and, at times,
reminiscing bygone days.”
Once a thriving land
More
than half a century ago, when the atrocities of the landlords were not
so rampant and dams had not been built upstream, Keti Bunder was a hub
of international trade activities in Sindh. The once beautiful
flourishing deltoid area comprised vast agriculture lands brimming with
marine resources. Ships from as far as Europe used to anchor here. Its
main produces were Sindh ganja (red rice), coal, desi ghee, butter and
wood. It was so rich that once its municipality gave a loan to the
Karachi municipality and records of 1934-35 show that local traders had
their commission agents in Muscat. The area was ideal for the production
of banana, coconut, melon and watermelon. Today, the picture of a grave
man-made tragedy stands like an unfortunate princess who despite losing
her beauty, youth and affluence in a mutiny, still faces threats to her
existence as the giant sea is gradually eating her up. According to some
estimates, Keti Bunder has lost 113,900 acres to the sea and slowly,
like other parts of Badin and Thatta districts, is losing more area with
time. According to a WWF document: “Due to very low discharge of the
Indus and lack of flooding, the palla fish has been unable to migrate
upstream for breeding and hence its stocks have depleted at an alarming
pace during the last 15 years. It was reported that as the single large
species of fish comprising 70 per cent of the total catch in the past.
At present, it hardly constitutes 15 per cent of the total catch.”
Though
vegetable, betel leaf, sugarcane, wheat and fruits are still grown in
the inland areas, 80 per cent of the population is engaged in fishing.
Earlier, only 20 per cent were involved in fishing. Still about 39 plant
and 69 bird species are found in the deltoid region while Keti Bunder
North and South is a wildlife sanctuary, mainly for water birds.
Mangroves depletion
During
a presentation, Zahid Jalbani, WWF representative at Keti Bunder, said
that mangroves were disappearing at a faster rate in the Keti Bunder
area. Mangroves, which grew in a combination of saline and freshwater,
only existed in Thatta and Karachi districts in Sindh and only four
species had now been left out of eight.
“Though illegal cutting of mangroves and grazing are also contributing
to the depleting mangrove cover, the reduced flow of freshwater is the
major reason behind their destruction. The pace of devastation has
dramatically increased over the time which is alarming. Obviously, their
destruction is directly linked to the low catch of fish and shrimps. At
least 10 MAF of freshwater downstream the Kotri barrage is needed to
rehabilitate the region.” If the situation persisted, he said, the
entire biodiversity of the area would be lost, besides leading to
serious social and economic repercussions. “Not only that the area
would be vulnerable to cyclones and tsunamis,” he said.
About the WWF intervention under the Indus for All Programme, Mr Jalbani
said that a number of initiatives had been taken with community support.
They included setting up of five wind turbines in coastal and inland
areas, mangrove plantation, uniting villagers under community-based
organisations and provision of boats with water tanks that feed four
villages. Medical camps and workshops for awareness-raising had also
been held.
(By
Faiza Ilyas, Dawn-19, 19/06/2008)
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