As the pye-dog population in the various cities and towns of Sindh province continues to rise, the Sindh High Court has come up with a judgment that offers an effective solution to the growing dog-bite menace. The Sukkur bench of the high court has ruled that in case of a dog biting a person, a case will be registered against the concerned municipal officer. Acting over a petition filed by a Sukkur resident, the high court’s divisional bench had sought reports from municipal officers belonging to various districts of the province over any actions they had taken to tackle the dog-bite cases. The court, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the reports presented and warned the district municipal officers, many of whom were also present during the hearing of the case, to take an effective action in the context or be ready to be prosecuted against.
For want of administrative action – which includes making anti-rabies vaccine available in hospitals across the province and launching mass dog vaccination campaigns to eliminate dog-dog or dog-man transmissions of the rabies virus, in tandem with animal birth control measures – the population of stray dogs is increasing by the day, and with that the incidents of dog bite and consequent deaths. It’s no exaggeration that more than 100 dog-bite victims report daily to just three hospitals of Karachi that have the facilities to manage the lethal bite. That the victims include those from all over Sindh speaks of the prevalence of the problems across the province and of the apathy on the part of the authorities towards tackling what WHO has classified as a neglected tropical disease, or NTD, and aims to eliminate from the world by 2030.
The worsening situation is Sindh has long been calling for attention, but to no avail thus far. It is hoped that the mentioned Sindh High Court judgment will prove helpful in eliminating this NTD from the province
Endemic delays
Delays have become endemic with us. Most government projects aimed at improving civic facilities are never completed on the schedule announced at the launch of the schemes. The consequence is that the time overruns result in cost overruns. Of course, somewhere some people benefit from the increase in cost of the plan. This is the way our governments work. It is difficult to keep track of the date given at the launch of a project for the time span in which it was to be completed. The whole thing has become a jumble of the launch date and year of a project and the year in which it was slated to be completed. It has become an unending process of date after date enough to confuse the public. In this hazy situation, they cling to the hope that someday good luck will smile on them and the project will be completed.
The latest to be added to the long list of delayed projects is the Greater Karachi Sewerage Plan (S-111 project). Envisaged by the KWSB, the scheme aims at an integrated system of sewerage collection, its treatment and disposal in order to improve the environmental conditions of the city. It was launched in 2013 with finances provided by the Centre and the provincial government. Now it will receive financial assistance from the World Bank and will be undertaken under a public-private partnership. Earlier, the Supreme Court ordered completion of the project by December this year. Poor planning and late disbursement of funds have further delayed the project. Now it will likely take another five years to be completed.
The city has been without a sewerage treatment plant for the past 12 years when three KWSB treatment plants stopped functioning. Since 2008, around 460 MGD of untreated sewage is dumped into the sea harming marine life and the environment. We, the people, should console ourselves with Bertrand Russell’s book entitled In praise of idleness.
US election meddling?
The US is accusing Iran and Russia of attempting to interfere with the upcoming presidential elections. The accusation from Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe came less than two weeks ahead of the polls and was quickly denied by both countries. While foreign intelligence agencies attempting to influence the US elections would normally be a believable story, the source this time around is problematic. Ratcliffe is a Trump lackey who lied on his resume about his intelligence and anti-terrorism experience before he was given the job anyway. Unsurprisingly, he claimed the foreign intelligence efforts were solely meant to bring down President Donald Trump. But every source-based follow-up story said there was not enough evidence to show this or even confirm if Iran specifically was involved.
The ‘intelligence’ in question was the threatening emails sent to voters by the Proud Boys, a violent pro-Trump hate group. Given that several Proud Boys members have even been convicted of assault, it is well within the realm of believability that they would threaten to hurt people. As for claims that Iran is attempting to make Trump look bad by linking him to the Proud Boys, the President previously praised the group on national television. He only walked back his praise a few days later when even his biggest media toadies explicitly praising them went too far. Even then, it is quite clear from his subsequent rhetoric that he still fully backs political violence. He just doesn’t name the groups committing the violence on his behalf.
Radcliffe also accused Iran and Russia of stealing voter registration information. The only problem is that this information is already publically available. It is also unclear what, if anything, Iran or Russia could do to undermine the elections by merely downloading publically available information. On the other hand, hacking voter databases could be dangerous, but the term was never used. The more likely reasons behind the timing and contents of Radcliffe’s press conference are that Trump is flailing in the polls, with some predicting a historic defeat for the reality show President.
