POWER CRISIS: I live in the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) area where electricity is not available for almost 10 hours a day. There are times when these hours turn into days. Loadshedding takes place during odd hours and even in the middle of the night. The residents have been fed up with such continued power disruption. Even when there is no loadshedding in the area, the residents go through the motions of life in a state of utter uncertainty as they have no clue about when the power supply may again get disrupted. Students are unable to study and that has a negative impact on their academic progress. As the area falls into darkness soon after sunset, incidents of robberies and crimes have also increased. The relevant authorities must do something about it.

Anum Abdul Wahab
Karachi

LANSDOWNE BRIDGE: The Lansdowne Bridge over the Indus River is one of the great engineering feats and is quite popular as a picnic site among the residents of Rohri and Sukkur. Unfortunately, the condition of the bridge has deteriorated, and it is in a critical state these days. Even a spell of light rain is enough to turn the approach road into a pond, if not a pool. There is a wooden walkway with planks along the bridge, but many of them are damaged. The authorities concerned must sort out such issues in order to increase both its aesthetic appeal and user safety.

Nabeel Ahmed
Sukkur

TAX BURDEN: The middle class of Pakistan makes up a major proportion of the country. Over the last few years, it has been forced to put up with the consequences of the government’s flawed economic policies. The rising cost of living has put the people under immense pressure, and the problem has worsened manifold owing to the current disproportionate tax burden. Considering this injustice and lack of employment opportunities, it is not wrong to say that the middle class may not survive this inflationary spiral.

Muhammad Nabeel
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2023