Daily Times

A PMLN lawmaker introduced a bill in the Senate demanding the South Punjab province. South Punjab or Saraiki province had been a hot topic before the last election. Some won seats in the parliaments by proclaiming for a new province in South Punjab. More than three years in power, the PTI government has only been able to establish a skeleton civil secretariat in Multan. Another such secretariat in Bahawalpur is in the planning stage.

According to official sources, the civil secretariat in Bahawalpur will have three floors. A chief minister’s complex will be constructed in both secretariats – Multan and Bahawalpur. Also, blocks will be constructed for the additional chief secretary and administrative officers under him in both secretariats. Similarly, offices for the officers of irrigation, finance, planning and development, board of revenue, civil works, the local government and livestock departments would be built. This is not all; construction of residences for the officers would be a gigantic undertaking in itself, an aspect intentionally underplayed by the official sources.

When district Dera Ghazi Khan was upgraded to a division, the office and residential buildings for the officials took many years to complete, as the palatial residences for the bureaucrats had to conform to the pomp and grandeur of the buildings of the colonial Raj. When upgrading a district to a division, the primary aim is to serve the people of the area more effectively. How the people of the underdeveloped area benefitted by upgrading DGK to a division level cannot be speculated but the bureaucracy expanded itself, as planned.

While our lawmakers ensconce themselves in large comfortable sofas, members of British parliament occupy benches; sitting shoulder to shoulder.

Even though DGK became a division, the mass exodus of poor people to big cities to seek jobs has continued because the area was never industrialised. No government can provide jobs to everyone; it’s the private industry that does. And jobs in the private sector are productive jobs, unlike government jobs. Had a tax holiday been announced for some years, the employment situation wouldn’t have been so dismal. Why would young men from villages of DGK come to Lahore to work in bakeries and on gas stations to fill car tanks or do trivial jobs? They live under subhuman conditions in big cities. They have to support themselves and also their dependent families back home.

Recently, CM Buzdar who belongs to DGK’s tehsil Taunsa – city of saints known as Khawjas – announced setting up Taunsa Parks and Horticulture Authority. Instead of creating more opportunities for the already bloated bureaucracy, the funds allocated for the so-called authority should be spent on providing more schools and hospitals for the poor people of the area. The city slickers have no idea what the village life looks and feels like. Droves of unschooled and poorly clad children roam the streets aimlessly, graze cattle in the fields or play tip-cat (Gulli Danda).

I dealt with DGK upgradation in detail only to show how the process didn’t improve the lives of the common people of the area as promised. Now a similar experiment but on a much higher scale – creation of a new province – is in the offing. How will this monumental decision improve the lives of ordinary people, especially those living below the poverty line? Will new cities with tax-free zones be established to provide jobs to the needy? Would funds be allocated generously to promote education and provide better health services in the rural areas of the new province?

So far, we know that two civil secretariats are being set up, one each in Multan and Bahawalpur. Why two secretariats for one province is hard to understand. We like to do things grandly. India at the time of partition had nine provinces; now it has twenty-six and that too is based on local languages. There is nothing wrong if we create more provinces in Pakistan. But two paramount factors must be the cornerstone of such a decision. First, austerity should be exercised in setting up official buildings, offices and residences and second, public service should be the basic aim behind the creation of new provinces.

But why does the officialdom seek ostentatious lifestyle at public expense when the country survives on foreign loans. For example, compare our parliament house with the British House of Commons. While our lawmakers ensconce themselves in large comfortable sofas, members of British parliament occupy benches, sitting shoulder to shoulder. Some lawmakers there have to stand at the back for want of space in the sitting area of the parliament. It speaks volumes for the essence of austerity in the “Mother of All Parliaments.”

The writer is a Lahore-based columnist and can be reached at pinecity@gmail.com.