The Indian Express brings you clippings from the Pak MediaGiving in to IMF was easy way outDAWN: After some hesitation, the government has succumbed to the pressure of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the issue of a fresh increase in the prices of petrol and petroleum products. On Saturday the federal government decided on a raise of 7.14 per cent to 20 per cent in the prices of petroleum products with immediate effect. This fulfills one of the three preconditions for qualifying for the release of the withheld IMF tranche of $280 million, the other two being the resolution of the IPP issue and the enforcement of the general sales tax (GST). Accompanying the cabinet decision is a promise that petroleum prices will henceforth be adjusted, on a quarterly basis, according to international oil prices. Oil prices were linked with the border prices in 1990 when the world market price of crude was $24 a barrel about the same as today. Subsequently, oilprices began declining, touching the bottom at $9 last year. But the consumer never got any relief from that downswing. There is absolutely no logic or consistency in the government's policy in respect of domestic oil prices. This policy is self-defeating.Water tanker mafia squeezes dry KarachiDAWN: As if paying high prices for the services of private tankers were not enough, residents in Karachi's drier areas must also put up with the supply of substandard water. Thanks to a number of illegal hydrants operating in the city, many private tankers have no qualms about delivering untreated, contaminated water to the people, thereby exposing them to very many health risks.Many of these illegal, privately-owned hydrants, on which tankers depend for their daily supply, contain subsoil water that is brackish. In many cases the water from the hydrants may also be contaminated by sewage or toxic industrial waste that have seeped into the ground. The tanker mafia is also responsible, withthe connivance of certain KWSB employees, of deliberately creating conditions that keep tanker supplies in demand, leaving residents with no choice but to buy their requirements from tanker services.A committee had been set up under the previous administration to regulate hydrant and tanker operations in the city but nothing concrete has been done to mend matters.
