Sir,
In the heart of Clifton lies the incredibly neglected Block-2, where the residents are meted out step-motherly treatment at the hands of the KWSB, CDGK and other civic agencies concerned.
This area remained water-starved for three years and lately sewage has entered water lines causing gastroenteritis and skin diseases.
A few months ago notices were published in newspapers concerning the encroachment of the road and open areas by tankers and trailers, but firm action was never taken on this account.
The street-lights on Shahra-i-Ghalib remain switched off for reasons best known to the authorities. This creates traffic hazards and the risk of hold-ups by hoodlums. Another eyesore is the garbage collection post on disputed land next to the Sailing Club, where trucks dump garbage from distant areas of Saddar Town. Thereafter it is burnt, polluting the air and creating a nauseating stench. The nazim and the agencies concerned are requested to do the needful at the earliest.
RAFI ADAMJEE Karachi
Phone complaint
Sir,
My telephone number (278-3382) has been out of order since September 13, more than two months now. Numerous complaints on ‘18’ and even at the Saddar exchange have proved to be of no avail. I request the PTCL authorities to resolve my complaint at the earliest.
ABBAS ZULFIQAR ALI Saddar
Point less
Sir,
We, the students of the Sindh Medical College and Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences, would like to bring to your notice that there is only one point for the students living in Nazimabad/North Nazimabad, because of which more than half of the students have to remain standing throughout the half hour journey.
The most important thing is that despite the fact that most of the seniors are on study leave for their exams, there is no place to sit. So you can imagine what will happen after their return. Besides, we think it would be a shame to see the points of the institute named after you in the worst condition imaginable.
Therefore, we request you to kindly make arrangements for a new point from the Shipowner’s College to Paposh to Nazimabad Gole Market.
We shall be very grateful to you for your cooperation in this regard.
STUDENTS OF SMC/DIIOHS Karachi
Misleading youth
Sir,
I was quite shocked to read the story filed by your reporter for Metropolitan in Dawn of Nov 11 about the non-participation of the student community in the agitation that has been started by some opposition parties against the government.
In plain words, the contents fall in the category of ‘instigating and misleading’ the young students. It sounds nothing short of an appeal to the younger generation to take to the streets and leave their studies.
I was utterly disappointed to see Dawn giving space to such a report that is far from objective. These are difficult times and journalists have to keep their cool and report sensibly. I have always respected the policy adopted by Dawn and consider it above the cheap journalism that we see from some newspapers these days.
Keeping the differences with the present regime and the grievances apart, it is not expected from a newspaper of Dawn’s stature to become a party, start instigating the youth and lose sight of objective reporting.
ALI SAJAWAL PECHS
Illegal construction
Sir,
I recently passed the road behind the NED University’s city campus and found that construction is being carried out at the back side of the building.
I suggest that the university administration stop the construction so that this heritage site may not be further disfigured and also to demolish what has illegally been constructed.
ANIS AHMED M.A. Jinnah Road
Traffic at schools
Sir,
In 1985 some girls were ploughed over by mini-buses, injuring many and killing Bushra Zaidi, while crossing the busy road in front of their school in Nazimabad, paralyzing the entire city in riots and curfew for months and costing the nation about Rs1.5 billion per day. However, we did not learn much from this sad experience, as similar situations are witnessed every day in front of several schools and colleges in Karachi.
A few examples include a school on Shaheed-i-Millat Road opposite Baloch Colony, a school on main Gizri Road and the Fatima Jinnah Women’s College, where students in large numbers cross the busy main roads twice a day, creating traffic jams, besides putting their lives in danger.
Overpasses or underpasses can be easily built at such places, besides separate lanes inside the premises — where space permits — for parking buses and cars for the students’ convenience, avoiding the need for such hazardous road crossings.
An economical design for such an underpass was published in the Pakistan Transport News of the Chartered Institute of Transport in 1994 and also in the Institution of Engineers Pakistan’s magazine of the 35th annual convention in Lahore the same year.
This can be easily tried in any such situation, without even cutting the road, as it offers a unique method, relying on the boring and jacking technique. Following this technique three or four such parallel subways could be built at such places, perhaps allowing shopping areas at such locations to pay back the cost in due course.
The CDGK may look into this aspect at its earliest convenience to avert another such disaster.
S.M.H. RIZVI Karachi
city@dawn.com