The Hindu : New Delhi News : Reader's Mail

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 09, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Reader's Mail

On the Ridge

Lakshmi B. Ghosh in her "Campus Jottings" (April 28) refers to hordes of monkeys who inhabit the Ridge area of Delhi University and enjoy a completely free run despite the presence of policemen and police barricades. Large numbers of people feed bananas to these monkeys, who then aggressively dominate the whole area.

In the Delhi Government Officers' Flats at 33 Rajpur Road, for instance, these monkeys have become a law unto themselves. It is high time the police stepped in to prevent people from feeding monkeys on the Ridge, which contributes so greatly to this menace.

The long-term solution, of course, lies in identifying a suitable habitat for the Capital's simians and moving them there. Conservationists can be consulted in this regard and appropriate action taken -- or else, like the stray dogs, cows and bulls which endanger Delhi's citizens, the monkeys too will be a permanent headache for the city.

Vinod Chowdhury,

Reader in Economics,

St. Stephen's College,

Delhi University,

Delhi - 110 007.

Nikahnama

With reference to "Muslim board adopts Nikahnama" (The Hindu, May 2), the issuance of a model Nikahnama and the recommendation of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board is a sad event in the history of Islam in India. There was no pressure from the mass of Muslim women. Only a few Westernised ladies have been pressing for reform. This amounts to ijtihad, which is highly undesirable in a darul harb. What an Islamic State can afford, the Indian Muslim cannot. He or she must stand as one person across the country.

In itself the recommendation to avoid triple talaq may not be revolutionary, but it is symptomatic that our community's leadership is ready to compromise. Would that not open up a Pandora's box? This action of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board is qualitatively different from some women getting together in Lucknow to set up a Women's Personal Law Board or other women in Tamil Nadu building a separate mosque. These were purely unilateral actions whereas what has been decided in Bhopal has the sanctity of the ulema.

Parvez Ghiasuddin,

2154, Gali Qasim Jan,

Ballimaran,

Delhi - 110 006

Blame game

After reading promotional literature sent to me by SBI Cards in 2002, I bought a Health Shield insurance policy (No. HS00002210000101, Master Policy No. HLSBIL0002) from Royal Sundaram General Insurance Company. Since then the premium has been deducted by the company from my SBI Card automatically.

Last year I received my renewed policy document, the third since 2002, as usual, in the month of December. Upon checking the Card statement, I found out that on December 15, 2004, a sum of Rs 8,984 (the premium amount) had been deducted from my Card account. However, late in January 2005 I received a letter from the company saying that my policy had been renewed without obtaining the premium through the SBI Card. The transaction on my SBI Card, the letter continued, towards premium debit had been declined by the former. The letter asked me to send a cheque for Rs 8,984 within 15 days, failing which my policy would be cancelled.

Immediately I called the Customer Care Executive of the company and told her about the payment having been made. She said she would make enquiries and get back to me. Some time in mid-February I got a call from the company; the executive said the premium amount had not been received by them from SBI Cards. To my query whether the tie-up between the company and SBI Cards was still on, she replied in the positive. I later on found out from the subsequent February statement of the Card that this charge of Rs 8,984 had been reversed. When I asked the Customer Care Executive at SBI Cards, he told me that the problem might be with the company.

Then the Royal Sundaram executive asked for my Card details so as to swipe the Card again to charge the premium amount. I gave all the details asked by her, and she said my policy would get renewed.

After that I did not hear anything from the company. I thought that was the end of the matter. But no.

While going through the March statement for my Card, I did not find the premium having been charged to my card. So I called up the company again. The executive, to my utter surprise, told me that my policy had been cancelled as SBI Cards had refused to pay up.

Immediately after that I had a talk with Shashank Kaul, Floor Manager of SBI Cards. He told me that probably Royal Sundaram initially charged the amount to a wrong account and then, realising their mistake, sent it back to the Card. The next day the Royal Sundaram executive called me up and said that they had tried to charge the premium amount to my account not once but thrice in mid-February 2005 and all the three times the SBI Card refused to do the needful.

In all this blame game I am the victim. The company does not want to renew my policy, although it is prepared to give me a new policy. That is no solace. It is tantamount to forgoing all the cumulative bonuses of nearly Rs 50,000 since in the last two years I had not made any claim on the company. I also fail to understand the attitude of SBI Cards.

I wrote to them wanting to know why this should happen to a customer whose card has been in such good standing for the last five years. Their reply is still "under consideration". I have even written to the IRDA and am awaiting a reply. Through this column I appeal to the company as well as SBI Cards to sort things out between them and to renew my policy.

Deba Prasad Nanda,

J-1904 (FF),

Chittaranjan Park,

New Delhi-110 019.

Testing time

Admission to a number of management institutes is through the Graduate Aptitude Test conducted by the All India Management Association. The next examination is scheduled to be held on May 29 from 9-30 a.m. to 12 noon. Concurrent with this examination is the engineering entrance examination for the Delhi College of Engineering (May 29; from 9-30 a.m. to 12 noon). Thus an engineering-management aspirant can appear at only one of the two exams. It is sad that in these days when a large number of management tools are available, students are faced with such a dilemma. May I request the All India Management Association and the Delhi College of Engineering to change the date of one of the two exams in the interest of the aspiring students, please?

K. Shalini,

Princess Park, Sector-6,

Dwarka,

New Delhi - 110 011.

MTNL responds

With reference to the complaint by D.S. Kapur in these columns titled "Hello MTNL...." (April 11), pertaining to delay in installation of a broadband connection on telephone No. 27344717 functioning at KU-6 Pitampura, Delhi, we would like to inform Mr. Kapur that the equipment for the broadband service is at present under installation. The broadband connection will be provided immediately on the commissioning of the service.

The subscriber, Mr. Kapur, could not access MTNL telephone No. 27124455 as the officer generally remains on broadband field duty. As per our records, the name and address of the subscriber of telephone No. 27344717 is Depinder Singh Kapoor, KU-6 Pitampura.

S. C. Goel,

AGM (CS), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd,

Office of the General Manager (Marketing),

First Floor, Eastern Court,

Janpath,

New Delhi - 110 001.

(Letters 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 "Reader's Mail".)

Reader in Economics,

St. Stephen's College,

Delhi University,

Delhi - 110 007.

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