The Hindu : New Delhi News : Wanted: Better police

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Monday, Jan 04, 2010
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Wanted: Better police

All right-thinking people have rightly lamented the functioning of the Indian police system. Very often FIRs are not registered. Evidence is fabricated and there is all-pervasive corruption. Countless citizens all over the country are consigned to jails and kept as under-trials for months after being charge-sheeted, which is clear violation of human rights. Our police have acquired notoriety for adopting inhuman methods including “encounters” which are usually fake. It is high time Parliament saw to it that the police are overhauled. The current system, which suited the age-old colonial system, is not compatible with our present democratic set-up.

M. Hashim Kidwai,

C-501, Rosewood Apartments, Mayur Vihar I Extension, Delhi – 110 091.

Garbage capital

All hell broke loose when a Dutch diplomat said a few years ago that “New Delhi is the most miserable place I have ever lived in”. He described the Capital as “a garbage dump”. Delhiites did not take kindly to the uncharitable remarks. Such was the outrage in the Press that the Netherlands Embassy had to clarify that it was not the view of the mission.

More recently, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said our cities could easily win the Nobel Prize for filth if there was one. This time the outcry was rather subdued. The Minister was hardly exaggerating. Delhi is indeed filthy.

Not all the blame can be apportioned to the municipal authorities. Why are we so tolerant towards dirt, filth, incompetence and mediocrity?

To some extent one can understand the lack of amenities in slums as these are bursting at the seams. But what about localities close to high-end apartment complexes? Take, for example, Som Vihar Apartments in R. K. Puram near Sangam Cinema. How have the residents been tolerating so much filth just across the road! It is an open defecation ground.

There is only one explanation: Delhiites don’t mind things going wrong. It is their usual inertia and obsession with the self. The caste/class-ridden, hierarchical and divided society is alive and kicking!

Littering and spitting have become second nature to us and our fellow-countrymen. Our roads are open litter boxes; so are parks. It is not that dustbins are not kept anywhere. But who cares!

Our roads are constantly dug up. Even after dividers are built, the mud and earth are left piling for days and weeks leading to traffic jams. Roads dug up for laying cables and pipes are hardly ever filled properly.

All of us, however, blame the government agencies. Blame game is a national pastime. Weak laws and even weaker implementation and lack of fear of law account for our miseries. The Commonwealth Games will come and go, but Delhi will remain a garbage dump, for it’s a “we-they” world — it will always be someone else’s job and someone else’s dump.

Martina Roy,

C-2/2281,Vasant Kunj, New Delhi – 110 070.

Wake up, BSNL

I am a BSNL mobile service customer and am irritated with its customer service. It takes too long to connect to its customer service number and even longer to an executive — no less than ten minutes after you get connected. BSNL makes full use of this time to advertise its schemes, which only irritates the customer who is on hold.

My recent experience with a BSNL customer care centre pertained to activation of GPRS services on my mobile No. 9456725100. It was only after trying almost ten times that I reached its executive. Meanwhile the answering machine kept asking me to keep my balance over Rs.50 to avail myself of the service.

At times they transfer the call to a senior and you are forced to repeat your problem all over again. My experience has been that you get two different opinions and solutions on the same issue from two different executives.

That calls be attended and responded to soonest is my sincere request to the authorities concerned.

Divyadipt Gururani,

7, Snow View, Malli Tal , Naini Tal, Uttarakhand.

Hello, Nokia…..

Nokia, the largest-selling brand of mobile phones in India, has changed the socket size of the battery charger for some of its models. This causes a great deal of inconvenience to users, requiring different chargers for different mobile phones used within a family or organisation.

The socket size should be standardised as is the case with, say, electrical sockets and plugs. That would enable the users to employ the same charger for any mobile handset of any make and model.

Car manufacturers will also do well to fix the mobile charger as original equipment in cars. The Bureau of Indian Standards should take necessary steps in larger consumer interest.

Madhu Agrawal,

1775, Kucha Lattushah, Dariba, Chandni Chowk, Delhi – 110 006.

Turn black into white

I would like to draw attention to the issue of black money of our politicians lying in Swiss banks. If distributed among all Indians, it would make each one richer by a lakh. Corrupt politicians have accumulated huge fortunes by snatching away two square meals from the poor.

The media and the civil society know about this issue better than me. The question is why no one says anything? We live in a democracy and have the right to express our thoughts and views. If the Swiss Government is ready to give the money to the Indian Government, what’s our government waiting for?

Jayati Chopra,

Class IX, St. Joseph’s Convent, Bhopal.

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