Lahore municipality

THOUGH the municipality of Lahore is a premier municipality in the province from the point of view of its size, its income and the population for whose benefit it is supposed to exist, the state of affairs prevailing in it reflects no credit on those who are at present running it. The state of municipal affairs was bad enough in the days of official presidents; but it has become worse since the “dictatorship” passed into the hands of KB Chaudhari Shahab Din, who has now almost absolute control over the municipal government of the town. The boycott of the Committee by the Hindus and the Sikhs — itself due in no small measure to the attitude and policy of the president — is no doubt partly responsible for the present state of affairs; but while their responsibility is only negative, the responsibility of those who are on the Committee is far more real and it is their clear duty to bestir themselves and remove the grievances of the people, some of which can be removed without even sacrificing that narrow conception of communalism which seems to be the determining factor in the decision of most questions coming up before the municipality and the majority of its officials.  The first matter that calls for comment is the management of the municipality finances. We have been hearing talk of the necessity of raising a loan for helping forward schemes of pressing importance. Side by side, we have heard the most serious allegations about the wastage of municipal funds on a large scale, as well as the suggestion that there should be a careful and independent inquiry into the financial affairs of the municipality.