Crumbling Infrastructure

Whether it is a matter of basic services or administrative issues, the Sindh govt appears to be failing on all fronts

SUKKUR: While the government is responsible for the safety of the general public’s lives and property, it is also the government’s responsibility to protect the lives and property of government employees operating government machinery, whether in one department or another.

When it comes to the government of Sindh, it appears that the government is uninterested in the problems that the people face, whether it is a matter of basic facilities or administrative matters. The government of Sindh appears to be failing on all fronts.

The provincial government is also seemingly uninterested in the government employees who work tirelessly day and night to keep the government machinery running. An example of this can be found in the Excise and Taxation Department’s Sukkur Directorate. The Excise and Taxation Department is in charge of collecting property taxes, motor vehicle taxes, and other taxes from across the province.

It is one of the most profitable departments in the Sindh government, but the situation of this department can be understood by looking at the Sukkur Directorate employees.

Employees of this government department in Sukkur can be seen reciting prayers from morning until evening because the Excise and Taxation Department building in which they work has become very dilapidated and is always at risk of collapsing.

The ceiling of the corridor outside the director’s room in the building collapsed a few years ago, causing the Director of Excise and Taxation to lose his office. The plaster on the ceilings of the rooms has crumbled in many areas of the building, causing official records to be severely damaged.

Because of the collapse of the roof of the Excise office building and the constant falling of the plaster, employees in this department are constantly afraid. Following the roof collapse, the Director of Excise was forced to relocate his office to the lower level of the building.

An Excise Department employee who requested anonymity stated that they are under a lot of pressure and fear while working in the office. He stated that large pieces of plaster have fallen from the office ceiling on several occasions, and iron bars can be seen from the roof of the building’s lower floor.

The rainwater had accumulated in the office and had also gone under it after the recent rains, which means that the foundations of this office have become hollow, and this building is prone to becoming the site of a major accident. The debris from the director’s office corridor’s roof also fell on the ground floor below, severely damaging the vehicles seized by the Excise Department during drug smuggling prevention.

On the premises of the Excise and Taxation Department in Sukkur, there are over fifty trucks, pickups, and buses. These vehicles, which were used to hide drugs and transport them from one location to another, were seized by Excise Department personnel during operations against drug dealers.

After the seizure by Excise Department personnel, they could not be returned to their owners due to ongoing legal proceedings. However, even after the cases were resolved, the vehicles could not be officially auctioned, and these vehicles worth millions of rupees have become junk, standing in the premises of the Excise and Taxation Department with vital parts missing.

Whether it was winter, summer, or any other season, these vehicles stood in the same place, forming a graveyard of vehicles on the grounds of the Excise Department’s Sukkur office. Because of the presence of these vehicles, there is now a lack of parking on the office premises for Excise Department employees.

The surprising thing is that Mukesh Chawla, the secretary of the Sindh Excise Department and a provincial minister, has visited Sukkur several times and is aware of the dire situation of the directorate building, but no action has been taken by the concerned ministry to provide relief to the employees of Excise and Taxation Sukkur. Even today, this building poses a threat to both employees and visitors to the Excise Department.

In response to the issue, Zaheer Hussain Bhatti, President of Anjuman Tajran Mission Road Sukkur, stated, “I frequently have to go to the excise office for our taxes and other work, but seeing the condition of the excise office building, I get scared thinking that this building might collapse.”

“I’m curious how the excise department employees work under this building,” he said, adding that “there is no place to take the vehicle in the office, and despite the vehicles seized by the department teams parked there for years, no auction has been held for them, nor have these vehicles been moved from the premises of this office.”

According to Zaheer Hussain Bhatti, it is strange that the Sindh government is unwilling to pay attention to the department that collects various types of taxes for them. “Despite the fact that this department and its employees play a critical role in the Sindh government’s system, the Sindh government and the relevant provincial ministry appear unwilling to pay any attention to this issue, demonstrating that the provincial government is careless even in its own affairs,” he continued.

Jan Muhammad, another person who came to the excise office for work, stated that he has always seen employees fearful. “It is unknown how they are working under this damaged building, but the courage of these excise employees must be commended because, despite the fact that the top part of the building collapsed and the entire building has cracks and so much rain water has accumulated under this building, the employees continue to work in such conditions,” he added.

Aside from the words of such onlookers, if the Sindh government fails to take immediate action on this issue, a major accident is bound to occur at any time.