THE Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) placed an advertisement that was carried by several newspapers on August 16. It contained about half-a-dozen phone numbers where citizens could complain of poor sanitary conditions on public streets created by refuse, blood or meat of sacrificial animals.

There were scores of streets in Defence Housing Authority and Clifton where large tents for cows and goats were set up that also occupied the main streets. These streets were littered with animal waste, and there was stench and disease.

Street 12 off Khayaban-i-Badar was just one such place for which phone calls were made on the advertised CBC phone numbers. The first number responded by an automated message saying “your desired number is in no one’s use.”

The person at the other end of the second phone number line regretted any knowledge of the subject and suggested a third phone number. The recommended third phone number was dialed but the person who talked denied he was responsible for such matters.

Not to give up, a fourth advertised phone number was dialled. The response was brief and honest: “I have no idea of what you are talking about.”

Besides the torture and frustration because of these fraudulent “advertisements”, should these organisations not be held accountable for misuse of state resources for personal and organisational glorification?

Naeem Sadiq

Karachi