Tamil Nadu   

Police attitude

I am a victim of the strange attitude of Coimbatore city traffic police. I have been for many years parking my car in front of the police hospital on Avanashi Road almost every day for two minutes. It is an official parking area. Three months ago a police official came rushing to me and said my vehicle was parked blocking the main gate of the hospital. I told him that there was sufficient space for those who wanted to go to the hospital. But he had me booked.

What hurt me most was that the policeman had seen me parking the car but did not warn me.

After some time, I saw a couple of cars parked in the same place.

R. Chandramohan,

Krishna Colony.

We, about 500, mostly senior citizens of both sexes, paid Rs. 5,425 each at different booking centres in Madurai, Trichy, Salem, Coimbatore and the Chennai head office of a travel agency for a pilgrimage tour from Madurai to Bhubaneswar via Allahabad, Kasi, Gaya, Kolkata, Konark and Puri from October 6 to 15. The fare covered food, accommodation, transport and guide charges besides train fare in Bharath Darshan Yatra Train of Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation. The travel agency manager who accompanied us collected Rs. 20 each from dormitory occupants and Rs. 500 per room from five occupants of 13 rooms in Kolkata for a night stay. In Puri railway station the travel agent forced us back to Chennai instead of continuing the pilgrimage to Bhubaneswar. He did not inform us about cancellation of the Bhubaneswar trip nor did he seek our consent.

The travel agent gave the reason for the cancellation of the trip as “want of time”. But to our surprise the train came to Egmore railway station on October 14 at 8.30 p.m. instead of at 11 p.m. i.e. two-and-a-half hours before time.

There was no security in any of the coaches from Chennai to Madurai. Coach toilets did not have water. The guides did not know anything about temples and places to see.

They were not conversant with the local language Hindi. Some representatives and suppliers were rude and impolite to the aged and weak pilgrims. Travel agencies like these should be barred from entering into a contract with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation.

D.S. Ragupathy,

Seeranaicken Palayam.

After innumerable deaths in road accidents, the district administration has woken up to the fact that some steps need to be taken to prevent the accidents. While helmets for two-wheeler drivers, seat belts for four-wheeler passengers, bulls eye on powerful headlights are some of the measures to prevent accidents, more than 90 per cent of cycles do not have a headlight or a red danger light in the rear. This makes it extremely difficult to spot a cyclist on the road at night when oncoming vehicles have headlights on high beam. Bicycle manufacturers should fix head and tail light (red) on cycles. This will save the lives of many cyclists.

Pratap Gokuldas,

R.S. Puram.

The anglicised names of many cities and towns in India, including those in Tamil Nadu, have been replaced with their original names.

The recent instances are Bangalore as Bangaluru and Pondicherry as Puducheri. Why then has Coimbatore, a hard-sounding name, remained unchanged? It should be renamed as Koyamuthur as Coimbatore was originally known.

M.R. Pillai,

Rupa Nagar.

I am a subscriber to the broadband connection from October 2006. I pay all dues to BSNL every month without any penalty. However, my broadband has been unserviceable most of the time in the last few months. I have been contacting the BSNL office for the last 10 days, almost every day.

There was some response (on three days) - but nothing has come of it. Some of my complaints are: To the BSNL Customer Care (telephone number 1500) on November 1. The agent advised me to call 2393100 - but no response from the telephone number. On November 9 the senior agent spoke to me and advised to contact the General Manager at telephone number 2433300.

There has been no response from this number. On November 4 the Customer Care agent (telephone number 1500) asked me to register a compliant at telephone number 12678. I registered the complaint and my docket No is 093. There has been a call from the cellular phone number of one of the officials at the exchange (three calls during the period - last on November 9) telling me that the complaint was being attended to.

However, my broadband continues to be unserviceable. I have sent an SMS too on this number. I have been dialling number 12678.

The recorded voice tells me that the compliant has been registered earlier. We have also kept the PRO of BSNL informed. For about 10 days (till November 20) it was all right. However, in the last 15 days it has been dysfunctional again. During the morning and evening hours, it is unserviceable - the time when we need it most! I request the BSNL authorities to look into my grievance.

Raju Srinivasan,

Perks campus.

Election of members for the railway union is an yearly affair.

Recently the election was held in this part which witnessed stiff competition among various groups. The groups used handbills, posters, banners, cutouts etc. to canvass votes. In the recent election, public property - railway platforms, walls, buildings, open sites, etc. - was used indiscriminately disfiguring the places.

These paintings and posters will remain there for some time and all efforts by authorities to keep the stations clean stand defeated.

Unions should refrain from disfiguring the public property and places.

T.V. Kalyanakrishnan,

Ramnagar.

Readers can mail to cbereaders@thehindu.co.in with address and telephone number.

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