WHEN you are living in a humungous city like Karachi, you never know what could be happening to you in the coming second.
Once called the City of Lights, now in my opinion must be called the `city of robberies and burglaries`. Mobile snatching is common and every third person has been a victim.
For such a city, payphones must be one of the basic needs. These phones are critical for low-income or homeless people who don`t have cellphones or landlines of their own.
Public phones should be part of our public safety policy and remain part of our communications network.
An earthquake rumbles and shakes and cellphones are overwhelmed, unable to handle the sudden and unexpected emergency. Cellphones don`t work when some catastrophe strikes.
There are countless examples when cellphones gave up due to dead batteries.
Even if there is no disastrous event occurring and you are lost in some remote area with a dead cellphone, how would you ask for help? This is where a public phone will be considered the most wonderful thing to exist on the face of earth.
I propose that payphones be installed atevery bus stop and gas station so that everyone haseasy access tothis convenience. They must be installed in all rural areas also.
