Plight of five new Polytechnics
This is in connection with the nuisance created in the new five polytechnics in Assam due to the lack of competent teaching staff. Most of the highly qualified and experienced teaching staff in all the polytechnics in Assam have retired or are on the verge of retiring. Hence, the new five poly-technics are run by teaching faculties recruited under Regularization 3(f) of the Assam Public Ser-vice Commission (Limitation of Functions) on an ad-hoc basis. Due to their lack of proper work eth-ics, lack of empathy, lack of proper knowledge, and general disinterest in teaching on the part of the contractual staff, an environment counterproductive to learning has been created. Recently, the newly formed Assam Engineering Services Recruitment Board (AESRB) conducted the first phase of written exams in April and May for the appointment of qualified lecturers through a well-designed screening process, but, till date, even after the release of the answer key, there has been no indi-cation of an announcement of results. Due to this delay in recruitment and the lack of qualified teaching staff, which are selected through designated processes for assessing a candidate’s quality as a teacher, the entire polytechnic system is suffering.
I would urge the Directorate of Technical Education, Assam, and the authorities concerned to complete the recruitment process at the earliest and make sure that qualified and interested teach-ers are selected so that the future of thousands of students studying in these polytechnics is not ruined.
A concerned polytechnic
student, Assam.
Question over alliance
With the advent of the 2024 general election, both the ruling and opposition parties are gearing up their activities to woo the voters. Recently, a grand alliance of opposition parties has been formed to combat the ruling alliance. In this grand alliance of the opposition, all the participating par-ties have started raising a hue and cry about the misdeeds of the ruling party, posing themselves as honest, secular, and corruption-free. Is it really so? So, at first, let us take the case of the infamous Lalu Yadav, the former CM of Bihar and RJD chief who was put behind bars for the Fodder Gate scam and the job for cash scandal. His property worth crores has been confiscated by the ED, and various charges of corruption are still pending in court. Delhi’s CM Kejriwal is also under scanner for having cabinet ministers, namely Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain, languishing in Tihar jail, and for being embroiled in controversies regarding the renovation of his official residence. Mamata Didi, CM of West Bengal, is known for nepotism and appeasement of a supreme degree to a partic-ular religious community, as well as political violence. Less said, the better about Congress uncrown Prince Rahul Gandhi, known for his antics in parliament and anti-nation speech abroad before doubtful Indian diaspora. These are some of the black sheep. We, the voters, are aware that no one can fool all the people at all times.
Lanu Dutt Chowdhury,
Guwahati.
Need for a proper railway station
It is known from media reports that the Government of India has taken up a plan to revamp or renovate more than 500 railway stations across the country. This includes a few railway stations in Assam. It is also known that Jorhat Town Railway Station (JTTN) is one of them. This is indeed good news for the people of Jorhat and neighbouring towns. Jorhat town railway station was estab-lished in 1885 as Jorhat State Railway and thereafter renamed Jorhat Provincial Railway in 1915. After its establishment, other small railway stations like Mariani, Titabor, etc. were formed and con-nected to Jorhat railway station. Jorhat town is situated almost midway between Assam and West Bengal, connecting upper and lower Assam. Historically, Jorhat has been an important city in Assam and is known to be the educational and cultural hub of the state. This was also the last capital of the Ahom Kingdom. With a population of around 1.6 crore, Jorhat has almost all major establishments, like a tea research centre, many universities, one CSIR research organisation, etc. But unfortunate-ly, Jorhat town has poor railway connectivity with limited infrastructure and is not connected to the rest of the country’s railway stations. All the major train services in the state pass through Mariani rail station, bypassing Jorhat town. To board a train outside Assam, one has to go to Mariani railway station, situated nearly 12 km away, for which the people of Jorhat and nearby areas have to suffer a lot of harassment. There had been enough opportunity to make Jorhat town railway station an ideal one, but due to the short-sighted mindset of the previous government, no action was taken on this. We strongly request the authority concerned to take steps for a full-fledged railway station at Jorhat for the benefit of the people of Jorhat and nearby areas.
Dr P C Sarmah,
Jorhat -1.