THESE days one gets to hear complaints about voters that have either not been registered or unfairly counted as eligible to vote when general elections are held in the country. As has often been mentioned in these pages, most of the issues affecting our society today aren’t new. This one is no different. On Aug 26, 1974 it was reported that Iftikhar Ahmad, an MPA, in a statement claimed that about 25000 eligible voters in Federal B Area had not so far been registered by the Enumerators of the Provincial Election Commission. Demanding immediate steps to rectify the neglect on the part of the enumerators, he pointed out he had highlighted the issue on the basis of the reports gathered by complaint centres in the neighbourhood.

Another problem related to the city which need attention that week came to the fore on Aug 27. The Utility Stores Employees Union urged the federal government to immediately order an inquiry into the irregularities of the Utility Stores Corporation, Karachi region. The union alleged that 23 stores in the city were selling most goods at market rates instead of the 10 percent discount which was the corporation’s policy. Apart from that, many popular items were being offered to select customers at higher than market prices. The corporation had imported ghee at a cost or Rs22.30 per tin of five lbs and was selling it at Rs24.50; and the same tin was available in the market for Rs23.

But increase in number was the need of the hour in another area of public service. On Aug 28, it was learnt that the Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) had proposed to double the bed strength at the Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and the School of Pediatrics by year end. The federal health ministry had already got the approval for the scheme allocating necessary funds for the purpose. At the time, both specialised units had 150 beds each, which meant that after the completion of the scheme, the number would rise to 300 each.

An administrative unit of the Sindh capital came up with its own demand, according to a story published in Dawn, when on Aug 30 the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) approached agencies including the IDBP and the PICIC to provide loans to it for its project to set up compost plants at a cost of Rs13.52 crore. The plan envisaged scientific disposal of Karachi’s garbage and production of about 13,000 tonnes of rich organic manure annually to be used in agricultural land in and around the Sindh capital.

On the cultural side of things, on Aug 28, a former provincial minister, Abdullah Shah inaugurated an Urdu-Sindhi weekly Al-Hyder. In a brief speech on the occasion he appealed to the Urdu and Sindhi speaking people to shun their linguistic differences and live together like brothers.

Speaking of magazines, on Aug 31, it was announced in the city that poet and writer Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi of Funoon was elected unopposed as president of the Anjuman-i-Adabi Rasael Pakistan for a two-year term. Funoon was the literary magazine that Mr Qasmi edited and published.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2024