I write this letter with regard to the sanitation operation that took place on Eid holidays over the previous weekend. As a citizen of Lahore, I know only too well how extremely filthy and polluted the city gets on this festive occasion. This year, however, the citizens were pleasantly surprised to see that a concerted and conscious effort was made to ensure cleanliness. I applaud the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) as well as the authorities of other major metropolitan cities where, I understand, similar measures were taken. On a sad note, though, I also noticed that the clean-up efforts were noticeable far more and organized far better in the posh, upper class areas such as Defence and Gulberg whereas lower class localities such as the Northern Lahore were relatively neglected. This is hardly a surprise as most of the top government officials and the nation's most powerful and wealthy people reside in these areas. This is also typical of a society having widespread income disparity and social inequality that by definition creates unequal access to civic rights. Basic sanitation, though, should not be a right reserved for the privileged. It is a right shared by all citizens of society regardless of their income group or the neighbourhood they live in. The district government must take responsibility for the waste management and clean up of underdeveloped areas and cater to needs of the less fortunate too. After all, it is these downtrodden classes that are most susceptible to the various diseases that arise from such health hazards. While the efforts made on this Eid were definitely a step in the right direction, there is still much more to be done. -SAAD AMJAD, Lahore, December 2.