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

Dispose of explosives

The presence of large quantities of RDX and rocket launchers in Rayya police station has caused fear in the surrounding areas. The explosives, confiscated during the heyday of terrorism, have not been disposed of for a long time. It is claimed that an accident can destroy life and property in the radius of 10 km. Dera Beas and Gurdwara Baba Bakala Sahib, where lakhs of devotees regularly come, fall in this radius. Possibly, such material is also present in other police stations of the state. The government should find a solution. Earlier in Ludhiana, iron merchants had imported scrap from Middle East countries, which contained live bombs and other deadly explosives. It was only after the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the explosives were defused in Ludhiana. At that time, the state government even modified the policy of honour and gratitude to include the casualties and injured during such civil operations. Some army men were seriously injured in the process. The CM and Defence Minister must urgently dealt with the matter.

Surinderjit S Sandhu, Amritsar

Political maharajas

Security cover to politicians is being used as a weapon of not only of political patronage and retribution but is also treated as a measure of power, popularity and political clout a politician enjoys at the cost of the exchequer built by taxes paid by the aam aadmi. Unfortunately, a new class of political maharajas has emerged. They enjoy police security as a status symbol even when the policemen can be better deployed to serve people.

Sardar Patel had diluted the influence of Nawabs and Maharajas when he tactically made hundreds of princely states’ kings and their offspring realise that they were not above equal after Independence.

Brij B. Goyal, Ludhiana

MRP violations

Apropos the article by Pushpa Girimaji “Consumer Beware” (Spectrum, September 21), I endorse the view that one should not pay more than the printed MRP. But the customer is helpless in some cases. Verka milk is sold by the retailer at the premium of Rs 1 per pack of 500 ml at Nangal and Naya Nangal. I have lodged a complaint in this regard with the District Food and Supply Controller and the Deputy Commissioner, Roop Nagar, but no action has been taken. In such circumstances, what can the customer can do?

HS Rakhra, Naya Nangal

Widen bridges

The small bridges on the state highway connecting Hamirpur district to Shimla are narrow and dangerous. On the highway to Bhota town, the small bridges at Dugha, Kohli, Gasoti Khad and Kehdru villages have very narrow spans. It is often difficult for the drivers of heavy vehicles to negotiate the adjoining narrow and dangerous curbs. There are sharp curves on both ends of the bridges. Most of the safe-guarding iron railings on these bridges are either broken or rusted. For decades, these bridges have been crying for attention for repair and widening. The bridges were constructed by the government before the seventies as per the requirement of that time. The traffic on this road has increased manifold since then.

Surinder Bhardwaj, Hamirpur

Build Highway 95

The Moga Bar Association has done a good job of filing a PIL in the matter of non-completion of Highway 95 (“Reply sought on highway work”). The halt in work for a long time is a loss to the nation due to the loss of lives and vehicles on the road. Now there is hope that the national highway will be completed with intervention of the high court.

Dr Bhupinder Singh, Mullanpur

Hindi push

Apropos the feature “Hindi push: How fair and far reaching” by Sukhpreet Kaur Dhindsa (October 6), our children devote their energy to be perfect in English as it is the only way to engineering, medical or other professional careers. Even to opt for defence services, one has to take expensive coaching in English. The compulsion of English as a subject at the school level is a reason for the high rate of dropouts. All subjects are taught in English. Hindi has become a neglected and optional subject. The result is disastrous. Our Children can't speak, write or communicate well in both the languages.

Anil Dobhal, Shimla

Pension meagre

This has reference to the news item “Harsimrat launches pension scheme" (October 1). As per a report, the EPF Department has a corpus fund of Rs 3.5 lakh crore and workers’ unclaimed money worth Rs 10,000 crore. This money is the workers’ contribution and belongs to the working community. Unfortunately, they have been deprived of a justified benefit. Can a senior citizen or retired worker survive with the pension of Rs 1,000 a month? The government should increase it to Rs 10,000. One wonders what credit our leaders wish to draw from such pension releasing functions.

KULBIR SINGH, Rajpura

Liquor rates

IMFL and country liquor rates in Punjab are higher than those in the neighbouring states. The rates are even higher in Amritsar due to unchecked monopoly and cartelization for higher profits. The anger and dismay of Bacchus lovers in Punjab could be one of the reasons for the Akali-BJP combine not doing so well in the recent elections.

HL Sharma, Amritsar

Not polluting

Contrary to the report “Muktsar villages unite against polluting mill” (October 6), I wish to state that Satia Industries in Rupana has been meeting all pollution-control norms. The mill has put up an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) on both running boilers and is meeting stringent norms for emission. For water treatment, the mill has set up a soda-recovery plant at a cost of Rs 30 crore. The mill also has a water treatment plant, which takes care of 90 per cent of caustic raw material.

RK Bhandari, Director, Satia Industries Ltd, Rupana (Muktsar)

Modern-day mom

Apropos “Granny not obsolete”, a modern woman is managing all affairs well at home, in office and also child care. Emotions never come ready-made. A mother, irrespective of age and time, is concerned about the well-being of her child. Grandparents are not dispensable. They are respected and a modern woman realises her responsibility towards her husband's relatives and executes them well.

Anita Singh, Rohtak

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