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Preventive detention best for Raj

I am deeply disturbed over the wide media coverage of Raj Thackeray’s arrest and release. The Maharashtra police shares equal blame for the shoddy manner in which it has been repeatedly handling the issue (Editorial, “Goons at work: Maharashtra CM must deal with the mobs”, October 22).

Why were Raj and his goons not taken into preventive detention under the National Security Act (NSA) for violating public order and tranquility? The state police registered cases under different provisions against him at different police stations, but what prevents it from booking him under NSA? This is actually helping the media to give him extensive coverage.

This is a fit case for enforcing preventive detention, which is constitutionally mandated. The custody is duly sanctioned by the material on record and is not usually interfered by the judiciary, thus prohibiting Raj’s lawyers from moving different courts for relief on one pretext or the other. Even the Supreme Court has time and again ruled that personal liberty is subservient to public interest.

HEMANT KUMAR, Advocate, Ambala City

II

Surprisingly, the Maharashtra government has been treating Raj Thackeray with kid gloves. The shameful methods adopted by his Maharashtra Navanirman Samiti (MNS) activists are anti-national, promoting regional bias and wooing parochial vote banks. Will these politicians ask all Maharashtrians working in North India to return to Mumbai and find jobs there?

In a way, all political parties are responsible for the communal violence in the country. They give tickets to candidates for contesting elections on the basis of caste, community and religion. Seats in government services are reserved on the basis of caste. States are reorganised on linguistic lines. Yet, we claim that we are a secular state!

D.V. JOSHI, Bartana (Zirakpur)

III

The news that 16 trains for Bihar from Mumbai have been cancelled is shocking. Instead, the trains destined for Mumbai should be cancelled unless the Maharashtra government gave a written undertaking about safeguarding the life and property of those travelling to that disturbed area.

As Raj Thackeray’s goons have been assaulting the examination centres many times since 2003, the centres at Mumbai should also be shifted as a precautionary measure to other places like Indore, Baroda or Bhopal which are safe and free from hooliganism.

Shifting the centres to these places will provide a permanent safeguard to the examinees from the acts of vandalism and plunder by Raj’s goondas who are determined to disturb peace and harmony.

Dr H.S. SINHA, Kurukshetra

IV

There is no rule of law in Mumbai and Maharashtra. To preserve the unity and integrity of the country, it is imperative to restore law and order by booking all the MNS leaders and followers. They must be made to pay damages for destroying the private and public property. If necessary, the Central Government should amend the criminal law accordingly.

Secondly, once the situation is brought under control, the film industry should consider moving out of Mumbai as Ratan Tata did in West Bengal.

AMAR THAKAR, London

Why blame us?

I read Arundhati Ghose’s article “Services’ contempt of civil authority is not casual” (October 22). The article unnecessarily blames the three Services for trying to go against the Constitution by deliberately misinterpreting a letter written by the three Chiefs. It also blames the politicians for widespread corruption while the bureaucrats are mainly responsible for it.

The government’s main purpose is to govern the country but unfortunately the country’s governance, which is in the administrators’ hands, leaves much to be desired. The armed forces have also been suffering due to the bureaucrats’ opposition to the legitimate requirements of the military.

In India, the Ministry of Defence consists of bureaucrats only while in a mature democracy like the US, the military officers and bureaucrats function together in the Ministry of Defence.

Democracy is well established in India. The bureaucrats have been using the fake threat of military dictatorship in India to have full and absolute control over the armed forces to ensure that the military becomes completely subservient to the bureaucrats.

Maj-Gen RAJENDRA NATH (retd), Chandigarh

Mockery of BOT principle To circumvent the problem of resource crunch and speed up the process of development, the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) system has been evolved. Under this system, the private sector is allowed to build and operate infrastructure and other public utilities for a specified period. During this period, the private sector recovers its full costs plus profits by levying predetermined user charges. After the expiry of the agreement period, the facility is transferred back to the government. Very recently, when I travelled by car from Patiala to Delhi, I had to shell out nearly Rs 100 as tolls at three plazas – Shambhu, Karnal and Panipat. To my dismay, the road condition was most pitiable. The potholes were visible particularly near Shahbad and Markanda. Since traffic is highly congested, one cannot even negotiate to avoid these potholes. One wonders where do the huge toll collections go? There is no justification for the toll if the private contractor cannot ensure quality roads. In such a situation, the government should itself spend on the necessary repairs and deduct the expenditure from the earnings or security deposits of the service providers. In case of repeated violations, the government should cancel the contract and forfeit the security deposits. Prof JANAK RAJ GUPTA, Patiala