For the past 5 decades or so, the Pakistan People’s Party has ruled the interior Sindh. The PPP may not always win seats across the country, but Sindh, especially the interior area, is their confirmed vote bank. Rohri is no exception.
The Illusion of Development
A small town located by the bank of the Indus, this place is home to many of the politicians belonging to PPP. One might think that it would be no less than a palace of luxury, but the truth is disappointing. When the election season approaches, streets are swept clean, new dustbins replace the old broken ones, broken roads are patched up, electric wires are replaced, and every possible cosmetic need is fulfilled. However, once the election ends, the switch is flipped. After securing the vote bank from the people, the political representatives of the area disappear as if they were never here. The municipal staff that used to work day and night is rarely ever seen, and the streets return to shambles. This has been the case for many decades.
A “Paradise” for the Elite
On-screen you will witness the PPP representatives claim that they have transformed Rohri into a paradise while the reality is the complete opposite. Rohri is a paradise indeed, but only in the areas where the PPP representatives themselves reside. Right where the exterior walls of their homes end, so does the development of the area.
Electric Wires: A Danger to Life
If you look up at the Rohri sky, you will see electric wires tangled up in one another like snakes in a pile, one or two blazing red due to overheating, and children playing underneath them, unaware of the danger. These wires have taken countless lives, both human and animal alike. One light drizzle of rain and they spark, fall, and take a life or two. On days like that, the local residents are scared of stepping out of their homes.The tangled-up electric wires often lead to transformer blasts, resulting in a power outage that can last for days at a time. People are forced to make a choice between moving away temporarily or exhausting their incomes on fuel for electric generators. In winters, one can survive without power, but summers are the toughest. Another important fact is that these wires are electric wires that seldom carry electricity. Due to excessive load shedding, the people of Rohri rarely ever have electricity available at their homes; this would not have been an issue if our political representatives did not have electricity in their homes either. But they have dedicated transformers providing access to electricity 24/7 in their palaces.
Shoddy Roadwork and Maintenance
If you look at the streets, you will find half-finished construction sites, cement that hasn’t been poured properly, and block that has been laid on top of the old one instead of replacing it. People of Rohri cynically like to call them the “fashion waali gallian,” repaired streets that are there for the sake of showing off maintenance to the world. But if you scratch the surface, quite literally, you will find the truth of the low-grade material being used. These neglected roads lead to road accidents, from minor tire punctures to people falling off of motorcycles and breaking a limb or two.
Cleanliness and Health Concerns
Moreover, this tyranny isn’t limited to construction and electric wires. Cleanliness is suffering the same; while I do admit people need to learn how to use a dustbin properly, I must applaud the government that does not quite understand the placement of the dustbins. The point of having a dustbin anywhere is that it should be away from the residential area and accessible to people, not hiding in a corner that people visit once in a while, tucked between walls of houses. Neither out in the open, where you get a whiff of its stench every time you cross the street. The lack of cleanliness leads to the spread of malaria, typhoid, hepatitis, and skin diseases.
The Water Supply Crisis
Another pressing issue in Rohri is regarding the water supply. Despite being so close to the river, the townspeople face difficulty with the water supply. Water motors run day and night, but pipelines run void of water for days. And when people do get water, it is for a few hours.
Neglect and the Half-Sold Truth
Rohri suffers from neglect because of the half-sold truth that has been presented to the people. While maintaining Rohri is a challenging job, it is not an impossible one. However, for that to happen, both parties—the government and the people—need to work together. If maintaining cleanliness is the job of the people, repairing roads and using quality material is the job of the government.
Unfortunately, the problem is that the people are willing to work, yet the government is not. For our representatives, the concern for the town is limited to elections only. If the ones supposed to be just with Rohri are like this, who will step up for it?