Waterless DHA

Dawn 25 March 2013

Sir, This refers to the clarification issued by the Cantonment Board Clifton (March 19) in response to my complaint ‘Waterless DHA’. First of all, the CBC has not redressed my complaint. All six small flats of the building where I live continue to be starved of water. So far no practical steps have been taken by the CBC to mend the broken or choked water mains, nor a single drop of water has been supplied to the residents. It would have been fair for the CBC PRO to emphasise the importance of timely payment of water tax if the residents were not perpetually deprived of water for years without any effort on part of the authority to execute its responsibility. Almost all the commercial areas of the DHA are waterless and are forced to buy contaminated water from external sources at a heavy price. This fact can be verified through an independent
 survey. On top of that the residents are unfairly forced to pay phantom water bills to the CBC when it is an established premise that one should not be doubly taxed. If the CBC cannot provide water they must not bill for it.

MAZHAR BUTT

E-deception

The Friday Times  |  TFT CURRENT ISSUE| March 29 - April 04, 2013 - Vol. XXV, No. 07

Sir,

Internet service providers in Pakistan are fleecing their customers with substandard service. I was using an internet connection by a leading ISP recently. Whenever I complained to them about their deplorable service, they always responded with those clichéd sentences that their operators have memorized, assuring me that they would do all they can to resolve the problem. But I continued to pay my bills on time.

One day, I found a link through which I could check the speed of my internet, and was shocked to see that they were giving me less than 50 percent of the contractual speed. I spent days checking my hardware and software, because that is what their representatives told me to do, but found out that there was nothing wrong at my end.

Later on I found out that a number of ISPs are deceiving unaware customers by giving them speeds that were much less than they were paying for. This is unfair.

The monitoring authorities concerned should take action to stop this outrageous practice right away.

Mazhar Butt,

Karachi.

Troubled waters

April 26 - May 02, 2013 - Vol. XXV, No. 11 | The Friday Times

The resumption of seafood exports is not going to bring too many economic benefits either to the fishermen or the country because of poor landings of shrimp and timeless sporadic landings of cephalopods. The whole fisheries management suffers from lack of planning and control.

Fishermen are exploited by unlicensed agents who are free to conduct their illegal businesses at the harbor. They openly rob the fisherman cooperative society of their rightful commission and do not pay their taxes. It is these rogue elements who ruin fish quality before it is processed, by mishandling, mixing, and adulterating the catches. Unless these scavengers are thrown out of the harbor, the product quality will not meet export standards.

Local fish prices are already sky high and in some cases even higher than export prices. Cultured shrimp and other fish serve 50 percent of the world fish needs. Aquaculture is growing worldwide at the rate of 8 percent per annum. World markets are flooded with low-priced cultured prawns and fish, but no measures have been taken in our country towards this goal.

Our oceans have already run out of their natural wild marine stocks and there is no hope of replenishing them through strategic fisheries planning and control. Prime varieties of fish and shrimp have already become extinct and only the left over varieties of shoal fish, which were once not even exportable, are being caught ruthlessly only to be sold for peanuts to cheap buyers.

It is unlikely that EU would pay us export prices that match those paid to India. It can be assumed that it will buy from Pakistan only select fillers that it cannot get from our competitors India and Bangladesh.

Mazhar Butt,

Lay of land

The Friday Times ISSUE | May 03-09, 2013

There is a vast stretch of land on the far side of the Karachi fish harbor channel that has historically been used for boat building, boat repairing and had a fueling station.

Because of a lack of infrastructure, this area was called Kala Pani. Just short of Kala Pani, a Chota Gate led to what is now called Machher Colony.

Years ago, the government allocated a plot in that area to set up a seafood processing plant. The fisheries authorities first sold the nearby plots for cheap to their favorites, and then some rogue groups began to occupy other plots in the neighborhood. None of this land was sold publicly, for fair value.

Now the Karachi Fish Harbor Authority, in concert with its absentee allottees, is battling against the land mafia, who is unwilling to surrender the possession of that land.

The best resolution to this problem is for the KFHA to cancel all previous allotments and sell the land through public auctions. At the same time, a major cleanup operation should be carried out to throw out the illegal occupants. That is the only way a fair amount of money will go into the national exchequer.

Mazhar Butt

Science and Society

TFT CURRENT ISSUE | May 10-16, 2013 - Vol. XXV, No. 13 The Friday Times

Sir, I think it is unfair to blame religion for the decay of scientific fervor particularly among the Muslims. Science flourished best during tyrannical eras - a fact that is quite evident from a look history. Pakistan is replete with scientists but they are merely academics or copy cats having little or no talent or inclination for technical or innovative work. It's a pity not knowing even a single Pakistani scientist who has made any technological accomplishment in the last few decades, and there is a lack of any patent for any tangible invention of any type. It is self-motivation and not religious beliefs that tend to bring scientific and technological progress. Even government funding is not necessarily required for scientific work. One just ought to have a will. Were it not so, some Muslims wouldn't have won acclaims for their scientific achievements abroad. Here in Pakistan, poverty, non-protection of intellectual property rights, and a lack of appreciation are the main reasons why our people lag behind in the field of scientific and technological innovation and inventions.

Mazhar Butt, Karachi.

The day I left KGS

Pure Nostalgia

The day I left KGS

Our seafood exports

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-11-128479-Our-seafood-exports

Although Pakistan’s seafood exports have grown considerably even after the European Union’s ban, this achievement cannot be attributed to a real increase in terms of value. Compared with its neighbouring countries, such as India, Pakistan is still getting lower prices for its fishery products. The boost in value can mainly be attributed to the weakening of rupee against the dollar and the export of the last bit of edible fish in Pakistani waters to cheap markets such as China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and some other Far East countries along with Egypt and the Middle East. It’s good news that somehow the marine fisheries department has persuaded the EU to lift the ban on seafood exports from Pakistan but it must be noted that allowing one or two processing units is not going to resolve the problem just as a swallow doesn’t make a summer. The entire fisheries and fishing sector needs immediate revamping and renovation. Unless this is done it is doubtful if it will be possible to establish traceability and cold chain.

Unfortunately, a look at our harbour shows no signs of improvements in fleets design or the technology employed in the processing units. Fish is still stashed on the dirty fish-harbour floors and sold and transported with little or no ice. Most of the seafood processing units do not have adequate facilities for making ice and the ones which do have equipment are usually out of order. Almost all processing units are run by obsolete freezing and cold-storage machinery and equipment. There are poorly insulated stores where finished product deteriorates due to rapid fluctuations in storage temperature. The EU continues to be the largest market for Pakistani shrimp and some kind of fish. But with the dwindling stock of shrimp as well as fish, I am afraid export of these to the EU will be done at the cost of our fauna and flora. A reasonable balance ought to be kept if the welfare of the industry is desired before it is wiped off and the last fish caught.

Mazhar Butt, Karachi