Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 10, 2008
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Monday, Mar 10, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Tamil Nadu
The railway budget has been lauded by many overlooking its shortcomings. There are many superfast trains with increased fares but with no speed. Sleeper berths are converted to Tatkal with increased charges. Now the Union Budget. Farmers’ loans of Rs. 60,000 crore have been waived. Will this gesture be repeated? The government should have a data about loans taken from corporate banks. After fixing the debt amounts by June the government should issue a statement. The Government hopes the loan waiver will help revive agriculture and farmers will not be pushed to suicides. Only time will tell. K.K. Lakshmanan, Coimbatore. Stagger power cutsThe Government has forecast power shortage till June and everyone anticipates power cut. But no one in Coimbatore knows when the power will go. If the Electricity Board intends to cut power for two hours a day, it should stagger the cut - one hour in the morning and the evening after announcing the timings through the media. This will reduce hardships for people, especially for housewives who have to do domestic works. There should be no load shedding during the time of public examinations. S. Gopalan, Coimbatore. Drug pricesI had gone to an eye hospital for treatment of eye infection. On the first visit the doctor prescribed an antibiotic tablet and an eye ointment. On the second visit too an antibiotic tablet and an eye ointment were prescribed. But they were different from the ones prescribed earlier. Later I found out that the medicines prescribed on both occasions were the same but the product names were different. There was a wide variation in the price too. I have no complaints against the doctors or the hospital. But what I could not understand was why there was such a variation in the price for the same drugs manufactured by two companies. It must be that one company is charging more and fleecing the public or the other is producing substandard drugs. Whatever it is, it is the people who are affected. I wonder what the drug control and pricing departments of the Central and the state governments are doing. K.S. Narayanaswamy, Coimbatore. Ration cardsMy brother and I had our names deleted from our father’s family ration card. We then applied for separate ration cards since we are married. We were issued token numbers 4913 and 4194 on January 23, 2007. Recently the government had announced that ration cards had been issued to all who had applied up to December 31, 2007. Since we have not been issued separate ration cards, we are unable to get gas connections. Many visits to the taluk office proved futile. We are told that the cards have not yet been received. Till date we have not yet received any communication whatsoever from the authorities concerned. Alain Payne, Coimbatore. RTI and red tape
Recent reports on the delay in the disposal of cases under the Right to Information Act 2005 are rather distressing. This is yet another example of the catastrophic culmination of many of the well-intentioned legislations in our country. In May 2007 I preferred an appeal before the Tamil Nadu State Information Commission against the order of the Commissioner, Coimbatore Municipal Corporation. The appeal was filed when I failed to receive adequate and satisfactory replies to my queries. The response from the Municipal Commissioner, Coimbatore, was not only belated but also murky. It is more than 10 months since the appeal was filed and there is no response from the Appellate Authority under the Act. The initial enthusiasm and vigour with which the people-friendly exercise began in the state have disappeared. The same virus of red tape that attacked every other welfare initiative has infected this noble statute also. P.K.G. Menon, Coimbatore. PHCs under scannerDirectorate of public health officials conduct surprise checks in primary health centres (PHCs). The officials should find out the following: 1) whether PHCs have been adequately manned. In many PHCs existing employees are made to work beyond the stipulated working hours because of staff shortage. 2) Whether clear-cut guidelines have been issued to the PHC personnel as to what they should do and should not. 3) Public should be made aware of the services the PHCs can offer. 4) The officials should also check whether sophisticated machines at the PHCs are in working condition and that qualified personnel are posted to man them. 5) Proper working environment should be ensured for the PHC staff. R. Prabhakar, Coimbatore. Create infrastructure
The proposed merger of some suburban, municipal and panchayat areas with Coimbatore city and establishment of information technology parks are likely to increase the population of Coimbatore by more than five lakh. The city has already lost much of its old charm thanks to unplanned and haphazard growth. Most roads are battered. Traffic snarls are the order of the day. The drainage system is awful. Supply of water and electricity is in disarray. Land prices and house rents have skyrocketed. Against this backdrop, it is incumbent on the government to create a Coimbatore Metro Development Authority. M.R. Pillai, Coimbatore. DEMU trainCentury-old Coimbatore-Mettupalayam railway section has had a glorious past. Blue Mountain Express and half-a-dozen passenger trains used to be operated from Podanur to Mettupalayam ages ago (Coimbatore was a small station till the late thirties). But now the Nilgiri Express and a commuter train are the only trains that run on this route. The vast potential of the track is not tapped properly. Three stations have been closed down. The road area in the section is horrible. There are nearly 20 ‘accident zones’ with barricades to regulate traffic. Shuttle services using DEMU trains should be introduced in this sector. I had suggested this to the then Nilgiri MP Prabhu who had tried to make this an electrified section 10 years ago. But, so far, nothing has materialised. I request the MPs of the Nilgiris and Coimbatore to get a DEMU train allotted for this route. K.C. Ananthakrishnan, Coimbatore. Decency in LSLok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee summed it up succinctly when he said “Lawmakers are working overtime to finish democracy. The House is becoming a place of ‘tamasha’. If it is at least a comedy people can enjoy it and it may be worth the taxes they pay to run the ‘tamasha’. But it is turning into a tragedy. Only the Speaker can prevent it becoming a greater tragedy. Hope he will exercise his powers and bring decency to the ‘tamasha’. V.S. Venkatavaradan, Salem. (Readers can mail to cbereaders@the hindu.co.in with address and phone number)
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