Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) is distributing to its customers information update forms. There are a number of problems related to this updating of information.
- The information once updated by SSGC becomes out of date, as soon as it has been submitted
- People are constantly changing their premises, they may give information of where they were once living in, but the owners or tenants will make changes in those premises, so that information becomes out of date. The former owners are living elsewhere and have nothing to with the those premises.
- The people who have shifted to new premises cannot be expected to provide requisite details, because they have yet to know the place they are living in.
- There can never give an accurate account about the new place at any given time, they are living in, someone who was living before them gave his information but will has no bearing on the new people who are living here. That information does not apply any more to them, so that information will have to be re-updated.
- No one stays in any particular part of the city for longer, or for that matter stay in the city; they keep moving – either within the city, or leave city altogether – then go and live in some other city or town, many also leave the country entirely
- People die the information they have provided ceases to be relevant. Because it was based on their Identity Card.
- People make changes in their homes, renovate and alter its appearance so what existed before no longer applies then the former information given to the SSGC becomes wrong.
- Businessmen go bankrupt, employed people lose their jobs. Government officials retire or probably (in some very rare cases they may lose their jobs). Some are being given charity so that they continue with their life and others are not. How can SSGC assume that people have three categories, businessmen,privately employed or working for the government. It has not taken into account widows.
- There are some people who cannot be categorised as tenants or owners, it is just place owner(s) guests are given to stay. Those guests would never be able to provide any kind of information ever, because they are not staying there permanently.
- Some premises remain empty – for a variety of reasons, hence no information can be acquired from them.
As for the information update form itself, the information demanded from the customers is of very private nature and the SSGC has no business to asking such questions. The SSGC should simply focus on the meter reading, nothing else and send bills based on that, it should not pry in the private life of people.
Imagine a shop-keeper not selling his goods unless he can all the private information he can from his customers. The shopkeeper would prefer that everything he has in store is sold, the more customers he has the happier he is.
One might well ask, what is the point such information gathering by SSGC? Some years back SSGC went through drastic changes. The civilian management was replaced by military officers. Everyone knows that military officers are the biggest idiots ever they make decisions which are extremely foolish without any consensus, they just give and order and the consequences be damned. Nothing ever is thought through. Only when the military officers return the jobs to the the original civilian management will the SSGC be work properly. It is apparent that behind every single stupid decision, one see the military regime’s handiwork.
On a final note – Karachi never experiences extreme cold, the climate is mediterrean – so it is humid and warm nearly throughout the year, these days more than ever – but SSGC thinks it has the right to charge extra for ‘winter’ when there is none in Karachi.
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