Sir, through your famous online newspaper, I would like to draw the attention of the district government towards a severe administration issue in Chitral.
I ask one question from the district administration Chitral. There is one Deputy Commissioner, one Additional Deputy Commissioner, one Assistant Commissioner and two Additional Assistant Commissioners who are calling the shot from the capital of the district. A few days a list about fares of vehicles in town Chitral and surrounding valleys was reported in this site in which the revised rate had been fixed for the given routes and destinations. The public was happy that the previous government took action against the price distorters and people will avail a little bit relief.
But all the hopes of the people dashed to ground that the said taxi fares have not been implemented not on a single rout of Chitral. On the other side, the prices of daily commodities are so high and are increasing the day by day. The district government authorities have totally failed to take action against them. The shopkeepers are also looting the community with the both hands.
The district administration takes symbolic type of actions against a few of the drivers and shopkeepers order to hide their inefficiency. But the former two groups revert to their routine plundering after sometime. They fines and penalties currently in practice of the district govt. are also petty and symbolic in nature.
If five so-called commissioner-type government functionaries mentioned above with administrative and magistracy powers do not have the capacity to control taxi fares from Chitral Town to different villages in Chitral, then what is the need of these armies of government authorities and officials at the cost of scarce public exchequer?
The government’s writ in district Chitral can be easily multiplied by zero. Irony of the matter is that people are paying tax but their tax income is siphoned off on the lavish expenditure of bureaucracy, their luxurious life style on their vehicle and fuel, etc. but in return that the bureaucracy is not in a position and also not interested in giving relief to public through controlling price in the market which is directly related to the welfare of the general public.
I think government officials will not pay heed to it and we do not expect from these officials to have interest in public matters. May I ask the masses what is the next option with the people if the government functionaries do not perform their duties after consuming heavy public tax revenues of the citizens on their perks and privileges, on office and vehicles plus fuels?
I would also like appeal to the honorable judges of the judiciary to take notice of the plights of the man in the street. Also the role of the mass media is important in highlighting the instances of non-compliance throughout the district.
The district govt. should deal with the repeat offenders of price-hiking and self styled fare-increasing with iron hands and the police department should have a system whereby the identities of the complainants of such law-breakers should never be revealed to the offenders as well as to the public.
Imad uddin,
Torkhow.
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I agree with Mr Imad Ud Din Sb, The Assistant Commissioners should come out of their offices and do something in the welfare of public.
Mr. Imad Uddin has highlighted an important issue of public benefit. Another aspect which needs to be taken into account is that fare lists ought to be specific about locations. For example the whole Chitral from Chev Bridge to Chawni Bridge has been referred to as either Chitral or Bazar which is ambiguous and leads to unending vague arguments when someone wants to avail a taxi from a certain point of the aforementioned “Chitral”. It seems the fare list was revised without a thorough homework as it is also replete with clerical errors. My suggestion is that a specific landmark has to be referred to as the representative location of that area. In the case of “Chitral” Goldur crossing could have well served as a reference point for the purpose of hiring of taxis and other vehicles.
And, for the clerical mistakes kindly just look at the serial numbers as well as the tables of the spreadsheets of the of the fare lists. Having been issued from the highly professional district administration offices one expects it to be the work of an elaboration and quality by doing away with the era of copy-paste at this point in time!