Dear Sir,

I eat out regularly in Doha, visiting restaurants specialised in Thai, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani and American cuisines.
From these visits, I have observed that all the franchise outlets charge a very high amount for bottled water they supply. The retail price of the bottled water is quite low but many restaurants are ripping off their customers.
Last Saturday we visited a restaurant where the billed amount for a small bottle of Highland water was QR11. A few weeks ago, I had dinner at a newly-opened restaurant which charged us QR35 for three glasses of Arwa water, a daylight robbery indeed. These restaurants make a lot of money by selling bottled water, the cost of which often makes up about 7 to 17% of the billed amount. It’s a shame.
At an outlet at a premier mall, a small bottle of water is priced at QR5 while at another one, just 10m away, it is available for QR2!
In Western countries, restaurants provide their customers with free filtered tap water but in Doha most of them don’t. There are a couple of exceptions like Spicy Route in Barwa village which provide filtered tap water.
I request the authorities concerned to look into this matter and make all restaurants give free water to customers, which is a basic human right.

Mohamed S
(e-mail address supplied)

Need for screened access to airport

Dear Sir,

The enhanced security measures restricting entry to the arrival hall at Hamad International Airport may be a good precautionary step, but I would like to make a few suggestions to reduce worries for both residents and visitors. The restricted entry to the arrival hall may cause problems for newly-arriving people like housemaids, who speak no Arabic, waiting to meet their sponsors as well as for unaccompanied children/minors coming to join their parents.
My suggestion to the authorities concerned is to have security scanners at the entrance of the arrival hall, like those installed at the Religious Complex in Doha, and allow those receiving housemaids and unaccompanied children easy access to the arrival hall at the airport.
In addition, a high-ranking security officer could be stationed at the arrival hall to screen the entry of those waiting to receive their sponsored individuals as well as the near and dear ones.
If the above steps are difficult to implement, I feel airline and airport staffers must be instructed to guide housemaids, children and tourists who are looking to meet their respective parties coming to receive them, to the passenger pick-up area.
Waiting outside the arrival hall in the summer heat in the passenger pick-up area is tiring and stressful. I hope the authorities will take necessary steps at the earliest.

RB
(Full name and address supplied)