IGNORING CALLERS: I visited the office of a senior official of a public-sector university recently, and noticed that he was not attending to the landline phone even though it was buzzing quite frequently. Even when he did pick the phone, he asked the caller to approach another number for relevant information. Ignoring callers is a common practice among these officials, causing problems to those seeking information. It is the right of citizens to seek information and the duty of the officials to provide it.

Khateeb Khan
Kotli

LOCAL POLLS: The situation of Hyderabad, in general, and Phuleli, in particular, remains as pathetic as it was before the local government elections. Those who rose to power are now turning the usual deaf ear to the peoples’ grievances. They had shown great resolve to address the issues during the electoral campaigns, but now have no time to attend to anything. The local government elections are held to bring prosperity in societies not to make local representatives corrupt and careless.

Mazhar Yousuf Ansari
Hyderabad

PATROL SQUAD: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had inaugurated a motorbike patrol squad to curtail the ever-increasing crime rate in Peshawar. Regrettably, none of the uniformed officers wears helmets. The traffic police authorities and the provincial government have taken several measures to ensure that motorcyclists wear helmets. Therefore, it is lamentable that those in uniform are themselves violating the law with impunity.

Sahibzada Mohammad Kashan
Peshawar

EMPTY BINS: I recently visited Daman-i-Koh Park in Islamabad and walked along the Rawal Lake. Litter bins were placed there on the site, but most of them were empty. Ironicaly, trash and plastic bags flying all around the place. Before placing trash bins, we need to educate our people to use them.

J.A. Khan
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2023

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