M A I L B A G

Stability and responsibility

IN his message to the nation on the eve of Republic Day, the President while commenting on the Prime Minister’s suggestion to give a fixed term to the Lok Sabha, emphasised that the fathers of the Constitution had stressed the importance of responsibility over stability and uniformity. Should it be taken that responsibility has no relevance to stability?

It has become clear that stable governments with able leaders are more responsible than unstable coalition governments. In a democracy, the importance of the people’s verdict cannot be denied. At the same time, the nation cannot afford frequent elections. Unstable political conditions have hampered the growth of trade and industry. Disruptive, separatist and terrorist forces have become active and criminal elements and the underworld have struck deep roots due to the ineffectiveness of unstable and weak governments at the Centre. The states are demanding greater autonomy, thus sowing the seeds of a loose confederation.

With the recent trend of hung Parliament and coalition governments at the Centre, regional groups governing the states are visualising a different non-federal political system in India. This will give rise to a loose confederation and not a tightly knit union.

R. P. MALHOTRA , Panchkula

Pilgrim’s woes

I visited Maha Kumbh on January 24 for a dip at the holy Sangam.

I was shocked to see the poor arrangements made by the Government. The impression created by the media was totally incorrect. Those having no access to the Maha-Mandleshwars and pandits were charged heavily for the shelter. Others were forced to sleep in the open on cold sand. They had to urinate and defecate in the open and cover the filth with sand. Rikshaw-pullers and tonga drivers were charging exorbitantly for carrying passengers from the railway station to police barriers. Vendors demanded Rs 12 for a cup of tea. I took shelter in a Gurdwara called Niranjan Akhara which accepted whatever the pilgrims paid.

M. R. VERMA, Chandigarh

Material from Kumbh

Only recently, the Government raised temporary structures — shelters, tents, toilets etc — at a cost of crores of rupees for the facility of millions of pilgrims at Allahabad on the occasion of Kumbh. Now the festival is over and these structures will be demolished and scrapped.

If these are dismantled carefully, this material can be transported to Gujarat to provide temporary shelter to earthquake victims. To do it speedy, the task can be assigned to the Army which can be relied upon for tackling such situations without loss of time.

M. S. Lamba, Ludhiana

Local call facility

The Telecom Department has created many problems by giving the “local call facility” within a radius of 200 km. Lines in every city are getting choked and it is becoming difficult to call people in the same city.

Mobile phones are the worst affected. Yesterday, I had to try about 10 times to get a city number. I had to contact three persons and had to use the mobile more than 30 times to get the numbers. The Telecom Department should review and modify the scheme.

R. S. DHILLON, Kapurthala