The Hindu : Kerala News : Reader's Mail

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 19, 2006

Kerala

Kerala

Reader's Mail

Nullifying Loading and Unloading Act

This is with reference to the decision of the Left Democratic Front Government not to implement the Kerala Loading and Unloading (Regulation of Wages and Restriction of Unlawful Practices) Act, 2002.

It is a bad precedent that the new Government is trying to nullify what the previous one had done.

Such a practice has been going on with a vengeance following the change of every Ministry.

Actions taken by the Government to safeguard the interests of a section of people should not create harassment to others.

This Government, particularly Minister for Labour P.K. Gurudasan, is duty-bound to safeguard the interests of headload workers.

But their commitment on this should not create harassment to the common man.

People of the State will not forget the days when even the police were not permitted to intervene in labour disputes. To unload even small items from vehicles, headload workers used to demand a huge amount, creating fear among people because it was beyond their means.

People used to be frightened about shifting houses, as it involves loading and unloading of goods.

The common man did not have the freedom to carry even small personal belongings or unload them from buses and taxies.

To load and unload large items such as generators and other machinery, specialised skills are needed. When the local headload workers were unable to do this, they used to demand a huge amount as their right to allow skilled workers to perform the work.

Those who ordered loads of items such as cement had to pay on the assumption that these had been unloaded and loaded at the agency's godown.

These problems were, in fact, suicidal to the interests of head-load workers because fearing them, people used to load and unload things at midnight.

G. Velayudhan

Thiruvananthapuram

Audio-visual alternative

Devaswom Boards should think of switching over to alternative means such as laser shows from bursting of firecrackers to prevent untoward incidents. Even when `destroying' the crackers stocked for the Thrissur Pooram, the sound generated was above the permitted decibel limit.

Residents near the site where a firecracker making unit blew up, killing several persons, were supposedly unaware of what was going on. Huge quantities of banned substances were used in the fireworks.

All these make us come to the conclusion that rules are being bent or broken in anyway possible.

There is no point in holding inquiries or setting up committees to look into the matter and formulate safer directives. Why cannot we come up with an audiovisual alternative that is entertaining and most of all safe? This has been in practice in the U.S., Europe and even China, which are supposed to be the first in firework displays.

Mustafa A.K.

Thrissur

Postal seals: need for clarity

Technologies are making their presence felt in all spheres of human activity, with better gadgets and services. One such area, even though minor, is of postal seals where excellent clarity has now been achieved in other countries.

But, seals of good quality and clarity are yet to make their entry into our postal services. The age-old rubber seals, which are still in use here, get smudged and become unreadable within a short period.

Any effort to find out the details like the name of the originating post office, date of posting, etc., from a letter will not be successful, as the readability is just not there.

Seal on a postal article is a very important legal proof. Hence the need to be clear and legible. In the case of letters received from some developed countries, the clarity of seals is really commendable.

It is time for our postal authorities also to take action to improve the seals in tune with the times and in public interest.

N.T. Nair

Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram

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