II

The recent unfortunate episode of Khushpreet’s kidnapping and murder has proved beyond doubt the common perception of the general public that the UT police is not competent when it comes to prevention and solving of crimes. The news report “Chandigarh loses ‘safe city’ tag with murders most foul” (Jan 7) describes shortage of manpower as one of the reasons for this inefficiency.

This argument lacks conviction, as on any given day one can find at least four to five policemen manning almost all the roundabouts with the sole purpose of ensnaring vehicles that have registration numbers of neighbouring states. Targeting vehicles only from ‘outside’ states is done basically to extract money from them because they cannot stay back in the city to pay challans. Hardly any of these policemen engage themselves in traffic control.  As soon as some traffic light becomes unserviceable or there is a power breakdown, these policemen are not to be found.

So, it is not the shortage of manpower but lack of effective supervision and accountability at the higher levels of UT police. Otherwise, how could Khushpreet’s kidnappers get away with ransom when policemen were present at that time?

 Wg-Cdr M K SHARDA (retd), Zirakpur

III

I fully support the views expressed in the editorial. Undoubtedly, the gruesome murder of Khushpreet could have been avoided had the police not shown laxity and callousness in dealing with the kidnappers. This shows the ineffectiveness of the Chandigarh police and that is why people’s anger seems to be genuine.

The failure of the police to intercept the kidnappers who had disappeared immediately after receiving the ransom money, raises many questions with regard to the security of the residents of Chandigarh in general and that of the children in particular. Obviously, the recent incident of kidnapping of the child and his brutal murder by the kidnappers as also the failure of the police to nab them has sent shock waves across the city.

HARDEEP SINGH SLACIH, SAS Nagar

People’s voice

Kuldip Nayar’s article “Fighting for PAC and JPC’ (Dec 27) focuses on the political drama being enacted between the Congress and the BJP at the cost of the ‘aam aadmi’. It is amusing to see how our politicians so easily forget that the electorate today, ably assisted by the discerning media, are able to see through the drama.

It is time for people to say this with resounding clarity to our parliamentarians — we are sick and tired of your amateurish attempts to deflect our attention from the core issue of corruption. JPC or PAC or whatever, we are only interested in getting to the truth.

People will not be satisfied if only a few minor heads roll. The axe must fall on the high and mighty too if they are guilty. The stolen millions must be restored and measures put in place to ensure that there is no recurrence of looting of the treasury. That is all we want and expect. The electorate is not the dumb-driven cattle of yesteryears. Let us not forget the power of the ballot and let us not hesitate to exercise that power when the opportunity arises.

BALJIT S GREWAL, Patiala

Recognise scamsters

The middle “School for scamsters” (Jan 6) by Maj-Gen B S Grewal (retd) was interesting. Although the General has made a valiant attempt to pay his tributes to the increasing tribe of scamsters in India, this tribe deserves more “recognition.”

We should immediately start working on proposals to raise statues of past inspiring scamsters at all august platforms. All-important positions should go to the scammers. Important awards should be exclusively earmarked for this tribe.  

After we have succeeded in establishing an international recognition for our scamsters, it will become far easier to sign joint venture agreements with other nations on the planet making India truly a global hub for imparting professional courses of highest levels even to the international community through such centres of excellence.

TEJINDER SINGH BEDI,Faridabad

Telangana issue

The editorial “Debate Telangana report: Political parties must strive for consensus” (Jan 7) has aptly advised all the parties to find an amicable solution to the Telangana issue in the wake of submission of the report by Srikrishna Commission. But it is easier said than done.

The Telangana issue is a telltale story of the Congress resorting to prevarication and ambivalence for its own vested interests in Andhra Pradesh over the years. Instead of taking the bull by the horns, it tried to place the issue on the backburner. This dilly-dallying is now taking its toll on the party. 

The Congress must understand that it is now difficult to put the Telangana genie back into the bottle as this contentious issue has been politicised beyond redemption. So much so that instead of speaking in one voice, its own MPs and MLAs are taking different stands on the division of the state depending upon which way their own political interests are served.

What is also now clear is that most of the opposition parties can sense a political advantage. The Congress, therefore, needs to look for a solution across the board by sidelining its own partisan ends.