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...not a drop to drink

Recently, The Tribune, carried a pathetic report of people living in 24 villages of the Changar area of Nangal. They do not get drinking water for themselves and their cattle for days together. Nangal has been blessed by nature with clean water all around it. The Sutlej, Swan and hundreds of rivulets and choes pass through the area. The Nangal dam provides a water body. Despite this, people of the area have to shift to camps 25 km away at Anandpur Sahib each summer. This belies the tall claims of development of the state by successive governments. Punjab should provide round-the-clock clean drinking water to the people.

Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Amritsar

Raise age for jobs

During the period of terrorism, Punjab suffered a great loss in economic terms. Vacancies of government jobs were not filled, leading to an increase in the number of unemployed persons. Now the Punjab Government has extended the age limit of retirement of its employees. But the notification of extension of age limit for recruitment of jobs has not yet been issued, causing disappointment to the unemployed educated youths. This is great ininjustice to them. Like Haryana, the age of recruitment should be raised to 40 years.

RAJVIR SINGH MEHRAJ, Rampura Phul

Deplorable road

The Tribune has highlighted the deplorable condition of the Theog-Hatkoti-Rohru road many times, but nothing has been done by the government. The road is so bad that it takes around seven hours to reach Rohru from Shimla. Despite repeated assurances given by successive governments, the situation remains the same. The stretch of around 32 km from Chaila to Kharaphathar should be improved to minimise the inconvenience faced by the commuters.

NS Khagta, Shimla

Barkat Sidhu

Hats off to the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for the medical help rendered to renowned sufi singer Barkat Sidhu who is critically sick.

"Ik kan di kan kan nu sun ke sab kathey ho javan panchi changey bandiyan nalo okhey vele mildey" (when a crow cries in despair all crows gather to help him. Birds are better than human being).

Suresh Chander, Nangal

Begum Akhtar

The piece on Begum Akhtar by Padam Rosha, (June 26) conjured memories of a bygone era. My late father Col GS Kohli was a soldier-poet. His knowledge and large repertoire of Urdu shayari endeared him to the great legends of his time. In 1959, I was 4 years old. My father was posted in Srinagar. He was a Major by rank. Begum Akhtar came to Srinagar for some concerts. She accepted his invitation to our residence for an evening in the company of a select few. Photographs kept the memory of that 'mehfil' alive. A day after Begum Akhtar visited our house, she did a concert in the 'CorpsHQ'.

Besides the Corps Commander, dignitaries like Sheikh Abdullah were invited.

My father was late in arriving and this is not done in the army. To avoid attention, he made a backdoor entry. Begum Akhtar was in the midst of a rendition. On seeing my father enter, she stopped singing and said 'aadaab Major Sahib'. Everybody turned back to view the Major getting a warm salutation from the great Akhtari Bai Faizabadi.

COL IPS KOHLI, via email

Melody of yore

Padam Rosha's sweet memoir of Begum Akhtar "Getting to know Begum Akhtar" reminds one of all those melodious and heart-touching singers like Mohd Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood, Shamshad Begum, Mubarak Begum, Hemant Kumar, Mahendra Kapoor, Geeta Dutt, Suraiya and Manna Day who managed to mark a place their own through dedication, simplicity and hard work. Most of their songs are evergreen. Today Bollywood is facing a vacuum of singers like them as the void left by them has not been filled.

SANJAY SRIVASTAVA, Chandigarh

Pak violations

This is in reference to the news report “Army foils intrusion as Pak violates ceasefire again” (June 28). The issue of intermittent truce violations by Pakistan should be taken up seriously by the government. The new government has promised measures against such incidents. There was a ray of hope regarding the relations of the two countries when Nawaz Sharif attended the oath-taking ceremony of PM Narendra Modi. But it is now clear that mere words and bilateral talks are not enough. India must bring such incidents to the knowledge of the United Nations and express to the world that it will not be a mock spectator of such infiltrations in its territory.

KSHITIJ GUPTA, Narwana

New buses small

Of late, the Himachal Road Transport Corporation has been plying new small size buses, especially on long routes. The new buses have been introduced without taking into account the crowds and convenience of the passengers. Significantly, more number of passengers can be accommodated in standing than the sitting capacity of these buses as they have too much space in the middle.

A couple of days back, while travelling in such a bus from Sarkaghat to Shimla, I saw several passengers standing for 4-5 hours continuously. It was painful not only to them but also to the onlookers.

H/Capt Jagdish Chand, Narola (Mandi)

Unfair coverage

Apropos “Advani wins 9th world title” (June 30), kudos to Pankaj Advani, who has won seven billiard titles and two snooker titles at the world level. The same day ace shuttler Saina Nehwal, who won the Australian Open, got space on the front page. But not Pankaj Advani. He was languishing somewhere deep in the columns of the last pages. The skewed sports coverage highlighting only the cricket world denies the other sports their due. I wish that all sports and the sportspersons are given their deserved share.

GURJOT S RANDHAWA, Mandi Killianwal

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