The Hindu : New Delhi News : Reader's Mail

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 26, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Reader's Mail

Railways' ways

Dainik Yatri Sangh, a registered organisation of railway passengers between Delhi and Ghaziabad, invites the attention of the Union Railway Minister to the plight of lakhs of commuters who travel daily between Delhi/Ghaziabad/Shahdara/Vivek Vihar/Sahibabad and New Delhi, etc.

Most of the E.M.U. trains on this circuit are running late daily for reasons best known to the Northern Railway authorities. This causes immense inconvenience and losses to poor passengers.

On the one hand the Railway Board is introducing fast trains at speeds of up to 150 km per hour; on the other, the Railway authorities are unable to run local trains at the scheduled timings over short distances of no more than 20 km!

We request the Railway Minister to look into the matter personally and set things right.

M.B. Dubey Bijnori,

Secretary, Dainik Yatri Sangh,

1/10459, Mohan Park,

Naveen Shahdara,

Delhi - 110 032.

82 and suffering

I am a widow of an ex-government employee. I am 82 years old.

On the 28th of February this year I had a convulsive attack in the middle of the night and was rushed to the nearest hospital, the Holy Family at Okhla. I was discharged from the ICU on the 3rd of March and was declared fully recovered on the 18th of April. The cost of hospitalisation and post-hospitalisation OPD treatment was Rs. 24,784 and paise 97.

Within three weeks my daughter applied for reimbursement, on the 8th of May, after all the bills and medical certificates had been collected. I was entitled to this reimbursement as my late husband, Nirmal Mukarji, was once Governor of Punjab. Our CGHS card (No. P 024765) had my name along with his.

After chasing the application we were told that the rules had changed and that the request must come through the CGHS Dispensary No. 37 at Srinivaspuri with some more certificates including one saying that I was my husband's legal heir.

All this was done and submitted on the 18th of May.

On the 9th of June the papers were returned to me asking for bank details. The very same day the papers were returned again asking them to be re-submitted under two heads. One for hospitalisation, and the other for post-hospitalisation OPD treatment with separate covering letters for both.

All this was done and the papers were re-submitted on the 12th of June. In between, there were several similarly useless trips. After the most recent one the gentleman who had gone to give those papers was told that the next time I would have to come to the CGHS for treatment (even though it is not open at night); otherwise the request would not be entertained. It was a threat and not a friendly advice.

On the 15th of June my daughter got a call in the morning to bring me to the CGHS dispensary at once to show my face. When the caller was told that I am 82 years old and cannot walk well, my daughter was asked to see one Ms. Santosh. She went and was handed back the papers as they were now "time-barred".

Why? No explanation was given.

The 15th of June is a day supposed to encourage respect for the aged. There are pictures in the newspapers showing how the day is being observed and radio stations have special programmes on the aged. My experience, which must be common, makes me cynical of all such glitzy observances. It does not take into account inherent corruption that harasses everyone in this country irrespective of age.

Promilla Mukarji,

D-1008, New Friends Colony,

New Delhi - 110 065.

A mystery

I wish to draw public attention to cruel treatment meted out to animals by a Delhi-based NGO, Circle Of Animal Lovers, receiving grants from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Animal Welfare Board of India.

Being an animal lover, I feed several street dogs in my neighbourhood. However, as the bitches often have several litters, I decided to get them sterilised. On April 11 I called the Circle of Animal Lovers located at E-67, D.D.A. Flats, Saket, New Delhi-110017, with a request to sterilise the stray dogs in my area. I was asked to give a donation of Rs.500. I agreed, and two of the dogs were taken away by them in their vehicle at 10-30 that night.

However, on April 28 they released only one of the dogs back to the area, saying that the second dog was still undergoing operation.

Despite my repeated calls to them over the next few days, the organisation was unable to tell me why the operation was taking so long.

On May 7, they finally said that they had operated upon my second dog, but for its release they demanded a payment of Rs. 600 more, which I did. Without giving me an opportunity to see and identify the dog, they made me sign a receipt saying that the dog had been operated upon successfully and was being returned. However, I was shocked to find that they had brought a different dog coloured with gentian violet and insisted that this was the same dog.

This was not true. Also, the substitute dog that was released was badly bitten and driven away by other dogs of my area. Dogs by nature are very territorial and alien dogs are never accepted.

I do not know what happened to my dog. Did it die during the operation due to some negligence or was it mistakenly released in some other area? Despite several visits to the NGO's office, no information has been provided about the whereabouts of my dog.

I request the authorities concerned, including the funding agencies and the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), to investigate and help in recovering the missing dog.

Ajay Thomas,

1-A D.D.A. Flats,

Friends Colony East,

New Delhi -- 110 065.

New DU menu

Mandira Nayar's "Campus Jottings" ("Add-on courses the new buzzword"; June 15) mentions the plethora of "add-on" courses Delhi University's colleges have focused on in recent years to give students an edge in the fiercely competitive job market today by equipping them with skills they may not get in an Honours or integrated general course.

She presents an impressive catalogue. Ramjas College, for instance, offers a course on Everyday Life Problems, Hindu College has one on Acting Skills, Bharati College has Broadcast Journalism and Advertising and Public Relations, Miranda House has Tourism and Photography, Kamala Nehru College has Disaster Management, and Sri Venkateswara College has Personality Development.

It is high time some college offered a short-term course on Debating and Public Speaking with emphasis on Elocution, Articulation, Diction, Pronunciation, Argumentation -- all wrapped up in a deep-seated understanding of current affairs. Many students these days develop in many ways but fail to make the grade in public speaking, which is a crucial aspect of personality development.

As one who has conducted workshops on public speaking and debating in English and Hindi for teachers and students at Doon School in Dehra Dun, I can assert that acquiring sophisticated speaking skills can dramatically transform one's personality.

Vinod Chowdhury,

Senior Reader in Economics,

St. Stephen's College,

Delhi University,

Delhi - 110 007.

(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".)

Secretary, Dainik Yatri Sangh,

1/10459, Mohan Park,

Naveen Shahdara,

Delhi - 110 032.

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