The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Letters to the Editor

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L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

Mr Badal, don’t waste time on ‘sangat darshans’

Let us hope that the Badal government will tackle the urgent and real issues of the people this time instead of wasting time on ‘sangat darshans’ and inaugurating unrealistic projects which never get completed, like the Metro project in Ludhiana.

There are many issues that need to be addressed. Not a single power project was completed in five years and none is nearing completion in 2012 or may be 2013. The education system is in total disarray. The Adarsh schools are not going to help. There is an urgent need to improve the standard of education in government schools. Private hospitals are mushrooming at the cost of government hospitals, which wear a deserted look. People have no confidence in the public health care system.

Industries in Punjab are in doldrums. No firm and progressive policy was framed last time. Besides, energy saving measures should be put into action. Farmers should be made to use energy savings motors on tube wells. Theft of electricity has been causing a loss of thousands of crores every year but has not been tackled seriously by successive governments due to official and political reasons.

Law and order situation, robberies, road safety, clean drinking water, sewerage problem et al need urgent attention and immediate solutions.

Most important is the improvement in the financial condition of the state. How long can the state survive on borrowed money? The state needs to create its own resources by plugging wastage and better management.

RABINDER SINGH ARNEJA, Jalandhar

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is unique in many respects. In his last stint as CM, not a single unit of surplus electricity was produced in the state, no new industry was installed and corruption and nepotism increased. The debt on the state has reached alarming heights. The scheme, like OUVGL (optimum use of vacant government land) has not picked up any visible momentum. Punjab is where it was five years ago. In spite of this, Badal’s party won with a thumping majority. It speaks volumes of his political intellect and grassroots connect.

GS GREWAL, Chandigarh

Trivedi, a scapegoat

Both Mamata Banerjee, CM and leader of Trinamool Congress, and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh have lowered their image in public eye by forcing the resignation of Dinesh Trivedi as Railway Minister (“Trivedi's exit”, March 20).

To pull the Railways out of the precarious financial crisis, it was quite imperative for Trivedi to raise the fares which he did very cautiously keeping in mind the interest of the common man and that too with the concurrence of the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister.

Trivedi has been made a scapegoat. Manmohan Singh had to act on Mamata’s dictates because of political compulsion. She should have asked for rollback of fares from the Centre instead of gunning for Trivedi’s head.

DP JINDAL, Mandi Gobindgarh

Former Rail Minister Dinesh Trivedi resigned from his post under pressure from his party leader Mamata Banerjee. His resignation was accepted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil. Changes in democracy are not bad, but they should be meaningful. Another TMC leader Mukul Roy replaced Trivedi on Mamata’s recommendation. The same Mukul Roy was rejected for the post of rail minister last year and in his place Dinesh Trivedi had become railway minister. This year Mukul Roy is acceptable as rail minister. Who will justify this contradiction?

ANMOL SINGH, Jalandhar

Hockey mania

Facilities provided to hockey players by the government are very limited. The Sports Ministry should concentrate on the game and how to make it better. There should be no partiality in selection. They must see the capability of the players, not the recommendation. Our players should also work hard.

Qualifying for the London Olympics is not sufficient. Old timers cannot forget the moments when a goal by Aslam Sher Khan made India defeat Pakistan in the 1975 Hockey World Cup final in Malaysia. When will those glorious days return?

VARINDER SHARMA, Moga

Ensure clean public toilets
The government spends a lot of money on constructing public toilets but no provision is made for its cleanliness. Miscreants steal taps and sanitary ware and within days, these toilets become non-functional or unusable. No one can enter these toilets. The purpose of these toilets fails and hard-earned money of tax payers goes into the drain.
The facility should be paid for by users and permanent sweepers should be employed.
HARDEEP KALRA, Shahabad