The Hindu : New Delhi News : Reader's Mail

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

New Delhi

New Delhi

Reader's Mail

Delhi Metro

The newly inaugurated Metro underground line from Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate in Delhi also connects the heart of the city with the North Campus of Delhi University. It will give respite to many DU students who earlier had no other option but bus route 100 or 180. Since students form a considerable chunk of passengers on the trains bound for DU, I appeal to the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation to issue concessional tickets to students. I know it is not feasible to provide concessions on the Metro on the lines of the DTC, which issues all-route passes to students for a meagre amount of Rs.15 per month, but the authorities can certainly consider issuing "destination-passes" which would be valid only on the up and down journey from the Metro station nearest to the student's residence to Delhi University or other colleges (e.g., Shyamlal College, near Shahdara in East Delhi), or any other educational institution as specified by the student in his or her application form. Similar passes can also be issued to school children who commute by the Metro.

The Metro trains will certainly help lessen the commuting time. But I am afraid many students will not be able to avail of the facility due to financial constraints.

Through these columns here now I appeal to the authorities to seriously consider giving concessions to students on the Metro.

Sneha Banerjee,

B.A.(Honours) Political Science I Year,

Miranda House,

Delhi University,

New Delhi - 110 007.

Model town ?

The callousness and apathy of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi towards citizens' plight is aptly reflected in the overflowing sewage on the roads of Model Town in Delhi these days. What was supposed to be a "model" elite colony of the Capital has been reduced to the state of a gutter thanks to an ill-conceived and ever-blocked nullah built by the Corporation along the Phase III market five years ago. The nullah was supposed to carry the polluted drainage from the neighboring industrial area towards the Yamuna. But due to bad planning it tends to continuously overflow throwing back highly polluted and acidic water and muck on to the main road of Phase III and adjoining lanes and homes after every drizzle. What is worse, the sewage stagnates and poses a major health threat to helpless residents, especially during rains. Requests and reminders to the Delhi Government as well as MCD have fallen on deaf ears. Apparently the Government -- which spends crores to check malaria and dengue and constantly reminds people to not allow water to stagnate anywhere -- is totally indifferent to its own message and warnings.

Dr. Devesh Vijay, Puneet Arora, Tanmoy, Gaurav Rawat, Anu Kohli and several other residents of Phase III, Model Town.

D-14, A/2, Model Town,

Delhi - 110 009.

A good show

Sanskar Rang Toli (Theatre-in-Education Company) of the National School of Drama is one of the important educational resources in India. A one-month intensive summer theatre workshop for children of different age groups is an annual feature of this Toli. This year, it was held from May 9 to June 12. It was a very informative and interesting event. Besides training in theatre and allied arts, personality development and integration are important aspects of this workshop.

I participated in this workshop as an assistant to the senior teachers. The Toli organised a five-day internal workshop for the teachers to create a meaningful theatre for children. It offered an insight into expertise and techniques to work in the classroom to make the learning process more effective and enjoyable. I for one found it very enjoyable.

Shafi Ahmad,

BA (Hons.)-Urdu-III,

Jamia Millia Islamia ,

New Delhi - 110 025.

Railway's ways

I would like to draw the attention of the railway authorities to inefficient management of the reservation system at Hazrat Nizamuddin station. Though Nizamuddin is the third major station in Delhi catering to railway traffic towards the South, West and South-East, it has only six reservation counters, one enquiry counter and one for senior citizens.

It is grossly inefficient for a station catering to such a large traffic but the problem intensifies with arbitrary shutting down of some counters in spite of a huge rush. It happened to me the other day.

It was vacation time so there was a great rush for reservation. I reached the reservation counter at around 1 p.m. and joined the queue. At that time all the counters were open. Then suddenly it was announced that two of the counters would be shut down at 2 p.m. No reason was given. A person from the Railways came and signed the forms of all the persons standing in the queue and announced that no more additions to the queue would be allowed.

At around 2-30 p.m. a boy requested the clerk to cancel his ticket as he was unable to join the other queue because he had to take the Rajdhani Express after some time. He also had a Rajdhani ticket with him for cancellation. He requested the clerk repeatedly but the man seemed heartless.

Not heeding his requests, the clerk advised the boy to go to any other counter. All of them were overcrowded.

My point here is that as a public service the Railway is here to serve the public but the attitude of railway employees is never customer-friendly.

What might have been the alternative at the reservation counter? Obviously, opening more counters during the rush hour, and a customer-friendly attitude on the part of the railway employees.

Rajesh Gupta,

Katwaria Sarai,

Delhi - 110 016.

Let us all sing

I am pretty sure 50 per cent of our younger generation today cannot sing our national song, "Vande Mataram", because they do not remember it by heart. Isn't this shocking? Whose fault is this? It is the fault of those who are at the helm of our national affairs. People learn what is taught to them by their leaders.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Babulal Gaur deserves appreciation as his government has decided that the national song will be sung in all government offices at least once a month. I am sure that the singing of Vande Mataram in chorus will go a long way in boosting patriotic feelings all round.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must make it mandatory for all Central Government employees, State Governments employees, colleges, schools, universities, hospitals, etc, to sing the national song at least once a week. Parliament and State Assemblies must sing Vande Mataram before the session starts.

We must be proud of being Indian. "Vande Mataram" will surely help us in this.

Dr. Naresh Rai,

34, Power Colony,

Patiala - 147 001.

(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".)

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi

News Update

Stories in this Section

The master treads his own path

NDPL begins an innovative plan

A `green gift' from petrol pumps in the Capital

Rozgar Adhikar Yatra ends

Bid to improve healthcare system

3 doctors from AIIMS get Award

Advani felicitates Jain saint on his birthday

Prostitution racket smashed

DU entrance exam results announced

Five alleged burglars arrested

Brothers found murdered