HOSTEL WOES: A number of students from Hub travel to Karachi for educational purposes on a daily basis. However, with a hike in petroleum prices and the fall of the main bridge connecting Hub to Karachi, fares of transportation have gone through the roof, making daily commute difficult and expensive. I have applied for hostel accommodation in Karachi University repeatedly, but there has been no progress thus far. Currently, the daily commute is costing me around Rs15,000 per month.

Nadra Naseer
Hub

NOT POSSIBLE: This refers to a photograph (Dawn B&F; Aug 29) the caption of which said peasants were “struggling to pick the remainder of cotton crop in Matiari district” in almost waist-high water. While the devastation caused by flood and persistent rains has been colossal by all accounts, the fact that the said photo ‘framed’ three peasants collecting cotton without any basket or cotton bags to store it does not make sense. Flood or no flood, nobody picks cotton without something to store the pickings in.

K.M. Shafi
Karachi

ADMISSION TEST: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) announced on Sept 4 the date for the scheduled undergraduate studies admission test (USAT), but keeping the current devastation caused by torrents and floods, the admission test needs to be rescheduled because of the fact that many candidates belong to areas hit rather severely by floods across the country.

The HEC should revisit the matter to ensure that all candidates get a fair chance.

Zahiruddin
Chitral

AUTHORITIES IN SLUMBER: It is some kind of punishment to be a resident of Block 13-D of Gulshan-i-Iqbal. The area has had no gas supply for the last eight months, but the relevant authorities at the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) seem to love their slumber so much that they refuse to wake up to the misery of its customers. The issue has been persistent despite a number of complaints having been lodging. Wake up, SSGC!

Fauzia Anwer
Karachi

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2022