Why speed money rules?

Byline: Dr Farid A Malik

As crimes of 'omission' are not punished in the land of the pure 'commission' has become very lucrative business. In the administrative set up nothing moves without speed money. Malik Riaz, the leading real estate developer of the country has openly admitted that he has to bribe his way through to get the job done. In the Nandipur Debacle Investigation, Dr. Babar Awan, the then Law Minister was given relief by the court as the charges against him were of omission for which there is no penalty in law. As the loss to the project runs into billion, NAB (National Accountability Bureau) has decided to file an appeal against the decision.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) together with reasonable time deadlines should be introduced for all government procedures. Khan Qayyum Khan as Bhutto's Interior Minister in the seventies introduced major reforms in the Passport Directorate. SOPs were implemented together with statute of time. Within seven days of submission of completed application, passports were delivered to the applicant. The process could be expedited with additional fee.

Public records have become a major impediment in the flow of work. In Punjab, record has been deliberately destroyed or disorganized by the 'department mafia'. A few honest and conscientious officers who desire to serve and facilitate the public are frustrated due to lack of appropriate record which is tempered, hidden or lost. In Lahore, old credible record is only available at the Lahore Municipal or Metropolitan Corporation as it is called now.

The Excise and Taxation Directorate has started to computerize the property and vehicles record which is a right move. It is time a high: powered committee is formed to streamline all public records in the largest province of the country. In case of the missing files, record can be regenerated with inputs from other departments including utility bills and onsite visits.

Public welfare and common good is no one's agenda. There is a lot of talk about tree plantation while no mechanism exists for their up keep. Last year we planted 1000 tree saplings on the Ring Road. The Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) was required to water and protect them. Most local varieties require about four cycles of watering before nature takes over yet in most cases even this small effort is not carried out. As I regularly cycle on the side road, so I personally checked the activity. No watering was done by PHA, flimsy...