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Nano project in national interest

TATA’s Nano car project is not only good for West Bengal but for the whole country. It will provide ample opportunities of employment and self-employment. Unfortunately, the stalemate is because of the ego of a frustrated politician. Her wicked and villainous triumphant smile, as aired by the television channels on September 3 was very annoying.

In Punjab, the most fertile land fetches around Rs 20,000 annually per acre as contract amount (theka). I doubt if farmers would be able to earn more by tilling their own fields in West Bengal. If Tatas would have employed only one person an acre from amongst the landowners, the annual salary would have, certainly, been more than Rs 20,000. However, the scale of employment opportunities would have been much more.

The politicians’ interests and approach differ when they are in the government and Opposition. I am sure, if Mamata Banerjee had been the Chief Minister of West Bengal and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in the Opposition, the fate of the project as well as that of the people would have been the same. People should come forward and support the Nano project.

J.R. GARG, Chandigarh

II

Tata’s Naño car project should be considered as a national project as it will prove that India is no less than other countries in technology. It is also in the interest of Singur people including farmers whose land has been acquired for the purpose.

As in case of Metro and other projects, the government has acquired the land by paying suitable compensation to the farmers and Singur is no exception. At the most, the state government or Tatas can guarantee some financial security to the farmers for their rest of life, educate their children free of cost and make them stand financially on their legs.

What more is expected from Tatas? I am sure, all sides will agree to help complete the project in the national interest. It is only some political interested people who are hindering the economic progress of the country.

MAHESH KAPASI, Noida

No silt problem

Punam Khaira Sindhu’s article, “A dirge for Sukhna” rightly points out that the Sukhna lake, declared as a wetland by the Centre, does not have enough water in June in the last 160 years. Even heavy rains in July and August didn’t improve things. This is the result of man-made mistakes in managing the available water during the last 20 years or so.

The dirge for Sukhna lake remains incomplete without mention of its silt problem. The UT had prepared a Rs 50-crore scheme for removing 45 lakh cubic meter of silt in six years. This silt can cover the land under a whole sector of Chandigarh by about 2 meters depth. No lake expert will support it because it is based on the total ignorance of the Sukhna silt’s following undiscovered golden properties.

The silt heaps on the lakebed are a boon for boating at the time of low water in the lake. This lake is not a storage one and its present capacity is quite enough to hold water for its boating activity plus annual loss like evaporation etc. The entry of unwanted future silt can be prevented with the help of a device costing less than Rs one crore. This device ought to have been adopted long ago.

Thus, Sukhna has no silt problem and there is no justification for desilting it. What is needed is to freeze the present silt in it by adopting a no plus minus silt policy towards it. It is surprising that the GoI has agreed to finance this scheme.

With the help of the lake’s wooden model, I had convincingly explained all these points to a four-member government committee headed by the Chief Engineer, UT Administration on Feb 14, 2008. I have not received any reply so far.

S. P. MALHOTRA, Chief Engineer (retd) Panchkula

II

True, ‘Sukhna is dying’ and the people of Chandigarh fail to hear its choked cry for life. Nothing is being done to save the Sukhna. It was commissioned in 1958 and in the earlier phase there was enough water flowing into the lake and spill over, sometimes twice or thrice during a year.

During that phase, there was a huge amount of silt inflow and the management got worried about it. Some engineering measures were taken which resulted in stopping the silt flow to zero level. It also led to near complete stoppage of run-off from
its catchments.

There are over 100 small dams and waterbodies built in its catchment that absorb locally all water and hardly any flow has occurred in the past 3-4 years. Will it not be proper to change the doctor and medicine which is slowly extinguishing its life?

Dr G. S. DHILLON, Chief Engineer (retd) Chandigarh