Khuzdar
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Khuzdar
Breaking the shackles
By Sultan Ahmed Shahwani
The city of Khuzdar has always enjoyed a good reputation in the history of Balochistan. These days one can see it emerge as a combination of traditional and modern cities. Its unique geographical position, the semi-tribal life of the people, the fertile and productive plains combined with scattered peaks teeming with a variety of mines and the importance being given to it by the present government, have ensured a rapid and uninterrupted expansion and development of this second biggest city of the province.
Like other cities of the country facing urbanization, Khuzdar is also enduring this burden with great deal of difficulty because of the lack of proper town planning. The intensity of the decade-long drought, tribal odds, the absence of basic civic facilities in the rural areas, and the natural phenomenon of seeking a better life, are the major factors constituting migration to Khuzdar from all quarters. Consequently, this city of Balochistan has become a centre for all such problems deranging the well-arranged programmes and disturbing the determination of the people to make Khuzdar a model city.
Of the problems being faced by the citizens to a dangerous extent, sanitation and unemployment stand as the prominent ones. The civil colony built some 35 years back is the only place where a broken and insufficient sewerage system exists. But this colony does not even have 0.5 per cent of the whole population of the city. The rest of the city is without any sanitation facility. The intensity of this problem can be judged from the fact that Khuzdar District has the highest ratio in the country of having cases of the virulent disease of hepatitis B. There are other water-borne diseases that add to the miseries of the people. The contaminated water, mostly because of the sewerage filth, is resulting in causing irreparable damage to the health of the people, particularly of women and children. It is another painful fact that Khuzdar has the highest mortality rate as compared to other parts of the country. Realizing the gravity of the problem, a well-known NGO had initiated a safe motherhood programme in the past focusing on creating awareness among the masses, which yielded positive results; but with the suspension of the programme the same situation has re-emerged.
The other problem brought by urbanization is unemployment. Unemployment led many people to take to crimes.
A ray of hope started appearing on the horizon in the shape of the expanding of areas where cultivation is done because of a big plan of electrification. Growers’ inclination was no more towards the old traditional crops; some new crops were also introduced successfully of which cultivation of cotton proved top profit-yielding crop. The cotton cultivation area started increasing day by day to the extent that last year the total cotton production of District Khuzdar was more than 300 ton produced on some 30,000 acres of land. This encouraged people to establish a cotton ginning factory which made cultivators increase cotton cultivating areas.
This happy scenario soon began to disappear because of the continuous disturbances in the Gulf states where a good number of people of this area had gone to earn a living. Uncertainty in the area due to the Gulf War pushed the majority of these immigrant families back to their native places and once again poverty became the major problem.
It was a time when the social setup was about to collapse and anarchy was imminent. But at this particular juncture, a rescuer stepped forward with the plan to establish the very first unit of industry in the shape of a cotton ginning factory. Reportedly, he collected all his resources by selling his property and invested it in the factory. Considering it the first step towards industrialization, people joyfully welcomed it. Cotton growers sought in it escape from the exploitation of the middle man. The local government was in the position to receive a heavy amount of taxes and more importantly, jobless people cherished the thought of having two meals a day for their families.
The first factory in the private sector started functioning in September 2004 and 107 people were directly employed in it. Cotton growers also heaved a sigh of relief for getting rid of the heavy expenditure of transportation and getting prompt payment for their cotton.
But luck again did not favour the people for long. A long series of rainfall started on February 7, 2005 following a drought for a seven-year period which went on till March 25, 2005. The continuous rain completely destroyed cotton worth 8.5 million rupees. This heavy loss was about to be managed when another calamity struck. On July 7 of the same year, a heavy storm uprooted half of the building of the factory damaging valuable machinery of the oil mill section. The loss was estimated to be worth 11.4 million rupees. On that fateful day, the local administration and the police visited the sight along with a team of journalists and financial experts. They reckoned that the total loss was of 20.00 million rupees. The effected party is still waiting for government assistance.
