Close Businesses By 8:00 P.M : Solution To All Problems
The Pakistani government and Punjab government in particular have found the universal solution to curb all kinds of challenges in government and administration. Be it a pandemic, a national emergency, a smog problem, or power shortages, the ultimate solution is a strict lockdown or to run away and close everything, confine the public in their homes, and use all the government machinery available to enforce such a revolutionary solution to all the problems that is simply to run away into your holes and wait for death or the problem to vanish on its own.
The world implemented the idea of lockdown in the Corona emergency, and from there on, the Punjab government seems to be in love with this idea, adopting it at every instance, even when the government failed to fulfil the power needs of a growing economy. It decides to shut everything down to reduce the needs of people instead of coming up with policies to increase production and match the needs. In the latest version of lockdown, the smog problem has been addressed comprehensively, and to tackle the problem and improve the air quality in Punjab, it was felt that all the businesses mostly relating to the middle class who are cursing the country they are born in are instructed to shut down at 8:00 P.m because it is fumes from local food stalls and cloth markets that have caused devastation in Punjab in terms of smog. Every factory, transport, agriculture waste, non-compliant vehicles, and all the major industries that can relate to air pollution are done and dusted by evening. In fact, they are counting profits by night, but the brilliant policymakers believe that the real culprits are those middle-class running small businesses in the markets, and their businesses have to be shut down by 8 p.m. to control this issue like any other problem the province faces.
The only thing it promotes is bribery at the lowest level, where small business owners pay hefty sums to government departments to carry on with their respective businesses, and it seems now it is done on purpose to promote bribery at the lowest level, where departments like Punjab Police are the chief beneficiaries of such policies. The policy to eradicate smog or any such element is followed by introducing policies to wipe out the public and not the general problem, a complete waste of money and resources to bear expenses of such policymakers on the end of the public.
Senior Punjab minister or a puppet minister, Maryam Aurangzeb, says that we will see the situation on Tuesday and Wednesday. If the situation worsens, lockdown will be done earlier. Next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be a complete lockdown. But I will see it for three days: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. If we have to do it earlier, we will do it as well. So no, she is talking about Lahore division. What difference does it make between Lahore and Multan? So no, we have decided to put a ban on construction sites in Multan and Lahore. This includes every kind of construction, and related to this, all the heavy vehicles loaded with construction material enter Lahore and Multan. Speaking on the occasion of a news conference held by Punjab’s senior minister, Maryam Aurangzeb, some time ago, she said that next Friday and Sunday, Lahore and Multan will be put under complete lockdown. There will be a complete lockdown. He said that the condition of the smoke will be monitored on Tuesday and Wednesday, and if the condition worsens, lockdown will be imposed earlier.
The tax-laden public is frustrated by such ministers and such policies. They enjoy their luxurious lifestyle at the expense of public taxes, which they earn after all the obstacles the government puts in their way, and after battling all those insane policies, such explanations to a broader problem that requires long-term intellectual policy are met with lockdown policies. If these are the solutions proposed by government, people will definitely opt for dictatorship, which is practically in place; at least we could save the hefty sums we waste on elections to elect such incompetent policymakers.