The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Vehicles without lights

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Monday, Dec 14, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Vehicles without lights

Cycles and two-wheeler vehicles without lights in the night can be seen on this town’s roads.

Plying vehicles without lights in the night should be prohibited.

C. Savithri,

Dharmapuri.

Government hospital

The Government Headquarters Hospital at Udhagamandalam, known for its dedicated service to the sick, has fallen on evil days.

Though there are a few private nursing homes here to cater to the needs of the middle and upper middle class people, a great majority of people still depend on the Government Headquarters Hospital.

But of late the general complaint is that the hospital has only a few doctors as against the sanctioned strength.

Those who are expected to look after the sick and the wounded either go on long leave or go out during duty hours on flimsy grounds.

According to the regular visitors to the hospital, the two paediatricians don’t remain on the hospital campus.

The service rendered to the sick and the wounded is not as good as it was decades ago, according to senior citizens.

The Government Sait Hospital near Ootacamund Cooperative Stores, which looks after delivery cases, has been functioning without a qualified gynaecologist.

J. Balakrishnan,

Udhagamandalam.

Think tank

Unstable hill slopes of Udhagamandalam, problem-ridden Pillur-Coimbatore water supply pipeline, harmful chemicals from textile, knitting, dyeing and sago industries polluting ground water – these are the bane of the citizens of western districts of Tamil Nadu.

Many new techniques and technological developments in the fields of geotechnical, environmental science and traffic management systems have been evolved during the last decades.

Slope stabilisation with geo-fabrics and root pile earth retaining structures, slope movement monitoring techniques using inclinometers and acoustic strain indicators need examination to ascertain their utility, economic viability and adaptability to the problems on hand.

Instead of depending on traditional practices and outdated technology, professionals of the Kongu region should form a think tank and develop new technological tools to find a lasting solution to the perennial problems.

S. Boominathan,

Udumalpet.

Research funds

This refers to the edit ‘Setback to science’ (Nov. 9).

I would like to add that a stronger motive for fraud in research in recent times is to amass wealth at various levels.

There are in the market innumerable medical and non-medical products which are promoted with fraudulent scientific data obtained by business tycoons who fund scientific studies and bribe researchers to get favourable results for the products.

Arnold S. Relman, former Editor-in-Chief of New England Journal of Medicine, wrote: “If data have been cooked up and the results are plausible, there is no way peer review can catch the fraud.”

T. Rama Prasad,

Perundurai.

‘No smoking’ zone

Coimbatore Corporation’s proposal to make the city a ‘No smoking’ zone by January is laudable and deserves support.

It is estimated that at least 10 per cent of the current world population will eventually succumb to tobacco-related diseases.

With comprehensive and concerted action, it is possible to eliminate the dangers associated with tobacco and save many human lives.

This is an issue concerning the health of the people and so it is their bounden duty to extend full cooperation and help to the authorities.

A round-the-clock helpline may also be set up to report violations of the smoking ban.

B. Sripada Rajan,

Coimbatore.

LPG refill

I get my refills from BPCL distributor (Radha Gas, Coimbatore 641002). Of late, it is impossible to get response from this agency to our telephone calls.

Recently I called the agency for two consecutive days – one day for 40 minutes and the other for 30 minutes.

I called the agency again on the third day. In fact, I called all the seven telephone lines of the agency.

The recorded response was: “Please try again after some time.”

Even when the phone was ringing no one answered.

Many consumers might have experienced this.

What kind of a customer service is this?

B.R. Shetty,

Coimbatore.

Commuter problems

Two wheelers and four wheelers are parked at all bus stops on Avinashi Road.

There is no board indicating ‘no parking’ near these bus stops.

There should be a ‘no parking’ area of 50 feet on both sides of the bus stops.

The area should be highlighted by white paint. This will help commuters board buses without any difficulty.

N.R. Ravisankar,

Coimbatore.

Ill-conceived bus stops

The issue of shifting of ill-conceived bus stops has been discussed many times at district road safety-cum-traffic advisory meetings but no action has been taken so far (Nov. 26).

The stop at G.P Hospital near Gandhipuram where both town and moffusil buses halt gives a lot of problems.

This bus stop is just 300 metres from Gandhipuram main bus stand and all buses going to Mettuplalayam and also Sathyamangalam have to stop here.

Moreover, the G.P. Theatre signal is just 100 metres away from this bus stop and people are inconvenienced because of this bus stop near the traffic signal.

Buses going towards Ganapathy may stop after the omni bus stop on the northern side and all buses going towards Mettupalayam may be allowed to stop after the buses turn towards the left after the signal.

The G.P. Hospital bus stop should be relocated.

Muthukrishnan,

Coimbatore. (Readers can mail to cbereaders@thehindu.co.in with address and phone number)

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