The Hindu : New Delhi News : Readers' Mail

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 04, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Readers' Mail

Holi-daze

Sir, -- "It's Holi time on Campus" by Lakshmi B. Ghosh ("Campus Jottings", March 24) reported that, to avoid any hooliganism directed at girl students, the Delhi University authorities decided to suspend all teaching on Thursday, March 24. With March 25 being Good Friday and March 26 Holi, and March 27 a Sunday, that meant four holidays in a row.

It is indeed a pity that, year in and year out, wholly unwarranted holidays have to be granted to the students of Delhi University a day or two before Holi is actually observed because girl students are made the targets of attack by rowdies, often from outside the Campus, who throw water balloons at them and daub them with colour against their wishes.

Every year decoy policewomen in plain clothes posted on the Campus manage to get a rich haul of eve-teasers, some of them as old as 50 or even older. Even when the licence provided by Holi is not there, we find instances of remarks being passed against girl students and other forms of harassment. The Delhi University authorities should liaise with the Delhi police on a regular basis to prevent such occurrences.

Vinod Chowdhury,

Head of the Department of Economics,

St. Stephen's College,

Delhi University,

Delhi - 110 007.

Save it

Sir, -- The recent funds squeeze in universities and colleges has badly affected the maintenance of these institutions of higher education. The worst affected are their libraries. Starved of funds, these libraries have had to curtail their budgets for acquisition of books and subscription of journals and periodicals.

One such library, which until recently was one of the premier libraries of the country, is the Ratan Tata Library of the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.

It caters to the needs of postgraduate students and research scholars in economics, commerce, management, sociology and geography, not only of Delhi University but also other universities across the country. Besides being a depository library for publications of the United Nations and various other international organisations, it receives reports of the Reserve Bank of India, the Planning Commission, and various research organisations besides trade and industry.

Moreover, besides having a huge collection of textbooks and reference books, it used to subscribe to a large number of reputed national and international journals. Its work culture and environment have been uniquely reader-friendly. But due to paucity of funds now it has had to stop subscriptions to various research journals.

Along with the financial crunch, what makes matters doubly grim is the fact that Delhi University has not filled up various key posts in the library, including those of the Librarian and three assistant librarians, which have been lying vacant for long. It has had to reduce its working hours also.

The University authorities are requested to take immediate steps to help this renowned library in its revival and turnaround by filling up the vacant posts and releasing the requisite funds urgently.

Prof. D. P. S. Verma,

(Former Professor, Delhi School of Economics),

QU-285 B, Chitrakoot,

Uttari Pitampura,

Delhi - 110 088.

DDA's ways

Sir, -- The Delhi Development Authority demanded Rs.15,000 from our cooperative group housing society through its letter (No. F 4(580)/80/GH/DDA/626) dated 24-04-1981 as "earnest money" subject to condition that the amount would be refunded to us as and when the society makes full payment for the land. Accordingly, the society paid up the full cost of the land on 12-08-1981 and this fact was acknowledged in DDA's letter No. F 4(580)/80/GH/DDA/1869 dated 05-06-84.

Yet for the past 24 years the society has been reminding DDA about the still pending refund of Rs.15,000 but in vain. Even several personal visits to the DDA offices have proved futile.

We hope DDA would refund the amount to us now!

Khazan Singh,

Honorary President,

Sunrise Co-operative Group Housing Society,

D Block, Vikaspuri,

New Delhi - 110 018

Abolish it

Sir, -- Thousands of family disputes all over India remain unsettled for long years, especially the ones involving immovable properties of families, as they require payment of heavy stamp duty. Even genuine transactions between blood relations require payment of heavy stamp duty as these are treated as sale when in fact there is no sale. So these family disputes remain unsolved creating unnecessary tension and endless problems for the heirs of these families.

Such legal provisions are absurd and must be rectified by suitable amendments to the Stamp Duty Act so that all family transactions of transfer/settlement and even sale if any should be exempt from the provisions of the Stamp Duty Act.

In fact, stamp duty should be abolished altogether -- on family (blood relations) transactions at least.

Mahesh Kapasi,

B-49, Gulmohar Park,

New Delhi - 110 049.

Hello, MTNL....

Sir, -- Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) gave wide publicity in newspapers recently to its Broadband Internet Service under the brand name "Triband". While highlighting only the advantages of the broadband service and suppressing the hidden costs, MTNL is adopting double standards towards its existing telephone users and those who opt for a new landline connection now.

It has been mentioned in the MTNL advertisement that there is no registration charge of Rs.500 for the broadband service in the case of a new landline connection, whereas those subscribers who had obtained MTNL's telephone connection earlier have to deposit Rs.500 as registration charge which is non-refundable. This is discriminatory and a grossly unfair trade practice.

To cite another instance, in March 1996 when I applied for MTNL's telephone connection I deposited Rs.3,000 as initial deposit and Rs.800 as installation charges which were quite high, whereas at present the new applicants have to pay only Rs.2,000 as initial deposit and Rs.300 as installation charges. Apart from registration charges for broadband service of 400 MB, MTNL also levies an amount of Rs.500 for modem (Delink 502T) and Rs.300 as installation charges and the subsequent monthly bills will show Rs.399 as fees for broadband and Rs.80 as rent for the modem.

The quality of the modem to be installed by MTNL is rather suspect judging by the past experience of substandard telephone instruments provided by MTNL to its subscribers which required frequent replacements with considerable difficulty.

It is pertinent to mention here that the installation charge of Rs.300 just to connect the modem with the CPU of the computer is too high and not justifiable. Therefore, in order to make the broadband service affordable, MTNL should not impose registration and installation charges on its existing landline subscribers.

K. S. Gopalakrishnan,

Flat No.80, Vasant Apartments,

Mayur Vihar Phase-I Extension,

Delhi-110 091.

MTNL calling

Sir, -- In response to the complaint by Y. P. Madan published in these columns on February 21, "Wrong number", about telephone No. 26273464, please note that the digit `2' is already prefixed, so the subscriber has to punch in his seven-digit telephone number.

S. C. Goel,

AGM (CS),

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd,

Office of the General Manager (Marketing),

First Floor, Eastern Court,

Janpath,

New Delhi - 110 001.

LIC's ways

Sir, -- The Regional Manager (PR & CC) of the Life Insurance Corporation of India writes, in "Readers' Mail" of March 28, that Prof. Leela Dube's policy bonds were sent to her on February 25 but came back marked "Address incomplete".

We are not told why the correct address in the covering letter was not written on the envelope, nor how many days had elapsed between November 22, 2004, when Prof. Dube sent the policy bonds to LIC's Mehrauli office, and February 25, 2005. Perfectly true statements are made which daintily step around questions of obtuseness and responsibility. But that is what PR & CC are about.

Mukul Dube,

D-504 Purvasha,

Mayur Vihar I,

Delhi -110 091.

* * *

(Letter for this column may be sent by e-mail to wsins@thehindu.co.in. They must carry the full postal address of the writer and should be marked "Readers' Mail".)

Head of the Department of Economics,

St. Stephen's College,

Delhi University,

Delhi - 110 007.

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