M A I L B A G

Time to change Nathpa’s silt excluding system

Apropos of the news-item “Silt causes breakdown of three Nathpa units” (Sept 17), the units have been designed for a maximum silt load of 5000 ppm. But at the site, the silt load had exceeded 16,000 ppm. The “silt excluding system” has failed to reduce the silt load. So, there is an urgent need for changing the silt excluding system.

The Irrigation and Power Research Institute, Amritsar, has designed an efficient excluding system in collaboration with the Hydraulic Research Limited, Wallingford (UK). The paper based on the vortex-settling basin (VSB) has been published by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The VSB-type silt excluders have been successfully deployed at many power plants in Himachal Pradesh. So at Nathpa-Jakhri, a new system of silt excluder may be adopted, after model tests.

Dr G.S. DHILLON, Former Director (Research) & Chief Engineer (Irrigation, Punjab), Chandigarh

PM’s bold assertion

Apropos of your editorial “ A confident Prime Minister” (Sept 6), Dr Manmohan Singh has forcefully asserted that Ms Sonia Gandhi is not the super Prime Minister. One wonders, why the denial has not come from her. In fact, even Dr Singh’s open denial may have irked them if they wanted the general perception of her being the supper PM to remain and even grow to bolster her popularity.

Dr Singh’s bold assertion may well be his way of sending a message to the concerned quarters that there is no place for a parallel power centre in our democratic system. As rightly pointed out in your editorial, India can ill-afford to project the image of having a lameduck Prime Minister.

Wg-Cdr C.L. SEHGAL (retd), Jalandhar

Refreshing message

It was refreshing and inspiring to go through the piece by S. Jaspal Singh (Sept 1). In a typical Indian manner, deeply Vedantic and in a language that reflects Swami Vivekananda at his best, he asks not to be born if we do not want to die. Shed Karma, shed ‘I-ness’ to be a ‘jivanmukta’. “Life is a continuous dance of birth and death...our heartbeats are death’s pulses, death’s heart beats, prompting us to let go of all the things we cling to.” Prose that is almost poetry, beauty and wisdom is one. Buddha, Nagarjun and Nanak, all in one sentence!

L.R. SHARMA, Solan

Vulgar channels

The letter “Vulgar channels” (Sept 14) by Prof Rajan Kapoor was a strong condemnation of vulgarity dished out by various TV channels day in and day out. It is time all like-minded people came forward and raised their voice against the onslaught of vulgar channels on our cultural values.

HARBHAJAN SINGH, Patiala

Rituals & miracles

Apropos of Saroop Krishen’s letter (Sept 15), the rituals, miracles and superstitions have been in practice since the inception of mankind. Even today most advanced nations have not been able to get rid of these. We can only seek solace in the following two quotes.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle”. — Albert Einstein

“Superstition is a senseless fear of God. We do not destroy religion by destroying superstition”. — Cicero

T.N. RAZ, Panchkula

Conserve water

Apropos of the report by Lalit Mohan (Sept 13), it is sad that we are unmindful of the forewarning and red alerts about the fast depletion of our water sources. We waste huge quantity of water in washing our cars, scooters, floors, ramps and even roads opposite the houses, oblivious of the looming water crisis ahead. I appeal to all conscious citizens to conserve water. Let’s save every drop of water.

DES RAJ HASTIR, Jalandhar

Holiday confusion

Whenever state governments declare a public holiday on a special occasion, the authorities concerned do not clarify whether or not such holidays have been declared under the Negotiable Instruments Act (NIA). As a result, there is confusion among the employees of the banks, industrial establishments and the general public.

In the absence of official announcement, one cannot plan banking transactions. In both banks and industrial establishments, the authorities frantically try to find out whether a holiday has actually been declared under NIA. This confusion prevailed on September 1. Only the Himachal Pradesh government had come out with a clarification. The state governments can remove this confusion by announcing well in advance whether the holiday has also been declared under NIA.

V.M. SETH, Hisar