This refers to the ‘Orange Line Train Project’; as much as it is a positive initiative towards development and improvement of the living conditions of poor, I consider it an irrelevant expenditure, nevertheless.
You see, transportation is only a secondary need. There are more immediate and primary requirements in dire need of fulfillment. I was reading only yesterday that Pakistan would soon be encountering a food crisis, with most of our rural land turning into urban areas now, leaving only little land for agriculture. The food produced from this land, sadly, would be insufficient for the growing population of Pakistan. This also relates to the many children who are famishing in Thar. Surely, it is not the transportation facility that we require foremost, but food and safe drinking water. The census has already been delayed for an indefinite period but that does not mean, I am sure, that our government in oblivious of our growing population. Our leaders, at this moment, must be thinking of effective ways for meeting our needs instead of our demands. For who will travel in these trains if the people, these trains are meant for, are not alive?
MAHAM ANEES,
Karachi, March 16.