M A I L B A G

Coming to the rescue of quake victims

THIS has reference to Inder Malhotra’s article: “Nature’s fury, man’s villainy” (Oct 21). Our hearts go out bleeding for the earthquake victims in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan. They must be assured that the whole nation stands behind them.

Local political leaders should not play politics regarding the distribution of relief. They should give up their biased mindset and supply relief to the hapless lot cutting across party lines.

This is not the time for the political parties to consider victims as their vote banks. The Centre must monitor the relief distribution network and prevent leakage in the distribution of disaster relief funds. Let the Army oversee the distribution of relief network.

ONKAR CHOPRA, Abohar

II

Reports put the death toll in the Kashmir earthquake at 1300. The Centre has given Rs 642 crore towards relief. Does it imply that Rs 50 lakh or so will be paid to the kin of the dead?

Unfortunately, despite so many natural disasters, there is no austerity in the functioning of the government. In fact, both the UPA government and the earlier government are under the impression that India is prone to such disasters.

The Gujarat earthquake, the tsunami, Mumbai rains, Orissa drought, Andhra rains, unemployment problem, dowry deaths, rampant corruption all make no difference to our politicians. They go on enjoying power.

K.K. BHARDWAJ, Patiala

III

The powerful earthquake has badly affected the people of Kashmir, especially those in the Uri sector. Some people have lost everything. Rehabilitation of the victims requires lots of funds. I have a special appeal. Let us not burn money on crackers this Diwali. Instead, let us save this money and donate it to the earthquake victims.

RAMESHINDER SINGH  SANDHU, Amritsar

IV

The massacre of 10 persons in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir and the killing of Jammu and Kashmir Minister Ghulam Nabi Lone show that the terrorists have no regard for human considerations and the sanctity of Ramazan.

According to a Hadith Satan remains incarcerated during this month. However, his minions, in the form of terrorists, are taking advantage of the disruption caused by the earthquake and the security forces being busy in providing succour to the tremor victims, are spilling innocent blood. Vigilance should, therefore, be beefed up.

BHAGWAN SINGH, Qadian

Back to the era of shortages WITH the return of the Congress to power at the Centre, the era of shortages, hoarding, blackmarketing, price rise etc., has started. Gone are the days when essential commodities were available at one’s doorsteps easily at reasonable prices. But this is not the position any more. Shortages arise mainly because of the people’s exploitation by those at the helm of affairs. The pressure on land has become unbearable and the rising prices of land vis-à-vis flats/apartments are because of the nexus between the government and the property dealers. Worse, the public distribution system has collapsed, defeating the very purpose of fair price shops. Earlier, these shops regulated the prices in the market but now it is exactly the other way round. P. PURI, Chandigarh

Problem of silt

The Naptha Jhakri Project was designed to ensure maximum generation during the monsoon season. But it remained closed most of the time during the monsoon, resulting in huge losses to the nation. Silt is a permanent phenomenon and the authorities should find out suitable solutions.

The government should abandon the proposal to set up mega hydroelectric power projects. Possibly, small hydro-electric power projects could be built on the major tributaries of the river where the silt problem would be of much lesser magnitude. Spending less money on such projects would give better returns and more generation on the average.

Er C.L. GUPTA, Mandi

Conduct interviews

The Amarinder Singh government in Punjab has not fulfilled its election promises made during the Assembly elections in February 2002. The Punjab State Warehousing Corporation had advertised for the posts of Technical Assistants (The Tribune, Feb 20, 2003). The results were declared on June 13, 2003. But no interview has been conducted till date.

Interviews fixed for July 10, 2003 and August 18, 2003 were postponed for no reason. I appeal to the government to conduct the interviews soon.

VINAY, Ludhiana

No Hindi word

The government has at last woken up to use common Hindi words instead of tedious Urdu words in the First Information Reports and other documents related to police working. However, it is surprising that the Centre and the states still use the English word “Police” in Hindi too. Why can’t they find a common Hindi name for the word “Police”?

In old literature, the name found for “Police” was “Jan Raksha”. The Centre and the states should explore the possibility of adopting this word for “Police”.

N.R. GOEL, IAS (retd), Kamal