DoT must change with times

  THE news regarding the DoT being not in line with TRAI’s tariff scale is really depressing and anti-consumer. The Internet boom has made the world very small. The DoT should realise this now and go global and liberal. Tomorrow people may stop using long distance calls and opt the e-mail only. It is cash time and the DoT can follow the TRAI’s direction. I feel there should be no loss of revenue as people will use the telephone from India rather than waiting for calls from outside. The average Indian does not use the overseas telephone because it is expensive. A five-minute call to the USA means Rs 300. Balance this amount with daily income of average Indians!

The DoT has not considered the necessity of making the overseas telephone useful for majority of the population. If the rates are reduced more and more people will make calls frequently and thus provide revenue to the DoT. I propose that the DoT should announce a global pulse rate (for all countries) i.e. 2 seconds for peak hours and 3 seconds during off-peak hours. The call rate should also become uniform at Re 1 per call and remove the slab system.

B. S. Aggarwal
Chandigarh

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HP & tourism

Himachal Pradesh is gifted with very rich resources of mineral and forest wealth and heavenly tourists spots.

But, the desired exploitation of these resources could not be done so far due to the utter lack of financial resources of the state government. The net result has been that the masses are languishing in poverty and backwardness due to the narrow and un-reasonable considerations of the earlier political masters of the state.

It is hoped that the present regime would move ahead early to clear the bottlenecks in the way of willing developers/entrepreneurs of the neighbouring states for establishing the tourists projects which would give momentum to the all-round development and boosting of growth in the state.

For achieving this end, it is absolutely necessary, in the larger interest of the state and the country as a whole, that the state government loses no time in repealing the controversial legislation which debars the willing countrymen from having clear and clean title of land in Himachal, without which they cannot take up projects there.

Arati Sood
Moga

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Dear onion

Just a few months back, onion was an indispensable ingredient for cooking dishes, particularly for preparing gravy. Onion rings used to be served as free salad in all dhabas, restaurants and hotels. Most of the people tried to avoid eating raw onion as it emits bad smell from the mouth. Thanks to its unusually high price, today onion has become a cheerful item at the dining table and emits a decent fragrance like red rose. Housewives have developed the habit of cooking without onion. Even upper middle class can not afford to purchase dear onion.

When the cost of onion went up from Rs 15 to Rs 20 per kg people felt the pinch and a Union Cabinet Minister gave the statement that action was being taken and the price of the onion would come down within a week. The result was that the price of the onion shot up to Rs 30 per kg. The mass media highlighted sharp reaction of the people in the newspapers. After sometime Advani Ji also gave a similar statement that all efforts were being made to check the rising price of the onion and hopefully it would decrease within a week. Next week, we all know that its price touched Rs 50 per kg.

A couple of days back, our Prime Minister in the course of his election address at Udaipur blamed the black marketeers and hoarders for the onion crises. To our utter surprise its price skyrocketed to Rs 60 per kg.

In view of this Union Ministers may kindly refrain from making such statements. People just want stern action against the cartels controlling the prices. Advani Ji was considered an “iron man” and because of this quality he was assigned the Home Ministry. People are wondering why Mr Advani is acting unlike Advani Ji?

T. D. Kumar
Panchkula

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Chhat Bir zoo

I recently visited the M.C. Zoological Park at Chhat Bir near Chandigarh along with some friends. It was a sad experience indeed. The zoo is in utter neglect. To start with the approach road to the zoo is worse than a kutcha road. The upkeep of the land and plants is dismal. The animals are in pathetic condition. They are ill kept and near starving. The animal enclosures are devoid of greenery and trees. I could hardly see any proper living conditions for the animals.

The animals such as the hippos which need sufficient clean water for survival are in dry and empty pits and where there is some water it is spoiled and covered with weeds and moss. I could almost see tears in their eyes as if crying for help. The managers and keepers of the zoo seem unconcerned with the sorry state of affairs. Whether it is the lack of funds or mismanagement, this kind of indifferent attitude on the part of the authorities concerned is inexcusable.

If the zoo cannot be maintained properly as it should be — by keeping the animals in an appropriate healthy environment — there is no reason why the zoo should not be closed and the animals allowed to breathe freely in their natural habitat. This zoo is a very bad example for the visitors — some of those could be from other countries — of how a zoo is kept. The overall impression is one of assault on the senses. I did not go to see all this misery.

Sugun and other animal lovers
Yamunanagar

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Tailpiece

Guess who are the happiest over the skyrocketing prices of onions?

Answer: Those taking homoeopathic drugs!

K.J. S. Ahluwalia
Amritsar