LAHORE AND LAHORITES

In view of huge amount of Punjab budget being spent on Lahore there is a feeling that Lahorites are favorites of Shahbaz Sharif the self- proclaimed Khadim-A- Aala of Punjab. Through the courtesy of your newspaper I would like to give another perspective. I am a Lahorite living in Samanabad for last forty years. I can say on oath that these days are the worst days of my life. I live in an area that forms part of NA 122 constituency of National Assembly. As we all know that in 2013 general elections the seat in this constituency was won by Ayaz Sadiq. However, on a petition by Imran Khan an election tribunal ordered re-polling in this constituency, declaring the election null and void. In the subsequent by-election Ayaz Sadiq won the by-election against Aleem Khan, but with a very small margin. It was commonly believed that he would have lost if Imran Khan had contested in place of Aleem Khan. To safeguard this seat in future elections a lot of money was allocated to this constituency for development work including new sewerage. That is the start of miseries of people living in Samanabad that is continuing. For the last ¾ months the whole area has been dug up creating a mess for people who don’t know how to move out and came back to their residences. While digging to lay down sewerage pipes goes on, water pipes are broken due to carelessness or lack of proper plan and supervision and off and on people are left with no water for a minimum of two days at a time and many times. Same is the case with gas connections and people remain without gas for days. When complaint is made to WASA they ask people to contact the contractor for doing the needful. There is a complete chaos. Samanabad is part of Khadim-A- Aala’s beloved Lahore and not far away from his home, but he or his ministers cannot find time to visit the area and see what is happening to residents of Samanabad who are cursing the government because what should have been a welcome project has become a nightmare for the people for whose benefit it was planned. CM Punjab’s so- called love for Lahore and Lahorites is due to the perception that one who wins in Lahore in general elections wins in Punjab and the political party that wins in Punjab wins in Pakistan therefore every rupee spent must be attuned to serve that purpose. To him his name on the plates on projects is more important than suffering of the people who becomes project’s victim. Orange train project that resulted in hundreds of people becoming homeless and hundreds losing their livelihood is the most glaring example of implementation of the election strategy that has to be executed at any cost even if it means even vandalizing Lahore’s heritage.