‘Achievement’ indeed

According to media reports, a Disneyland-like facility is being established in Lahore with the help of a Chinese company. An amount of Rs36 billion is being allocated towards building this facility. This project will be the fourth ‘achievement’ of the incumbent government – the earlier three being the Metro Bus and Orange Line Train projects in Lahore and the Metro Bus project in Rawalpindi/Islamabad. This huge amount is being spent on a recreational facility in a poor country where the most basic needs of people have not yet been fulfilled. If one wants to see a glimpse of poverty then one should look no further than the picture published in The News on page 20 (November 20) in which children were shown sleeping on a footpath after toiling through the day as rag-pickers. To add insult to injury, it was taken on the eve of Universal Children’s Day.
We need to set our priorities straight. Why should this enormous amount not be spent on education, health, vocational training or the energy sector? The Punjab government is advised to defer such projects until all other basic requirements of the people are met.
Air-Cdre (r) Azfar A Khan
Rawalpindi