Losing hearts and minds in Lahore’s map of dug-up roads

Losing hearts and minds in Lahore’s map of dug-up roads

Lahore is all dug up because the local governments are keen to finish development jobs before the onset of general elections where critical votes will hang by how much work has been done on the city roads. This is all very well, but the same people whose votes have been targeted are also suffering because all the roads are made to look like graves at the same time. Mounds of earth remain in place for weeks, rained on and flattened by passing traffic.

Surely this is the wrong way of going about pleasing the voters. You will be shocked to know the truth if you asked the prospective voter. He is cynical and says the “jobs” have been dished out in such a way that the capacity of the contractors is thin in relation to the work in hand, and that the jobs that should end in one month now take six. This is not the way to win hearts; this is more likely to make the voters lose their tempers. *