Bandhs: A cause of misery

Bandhs: A cause of misery

This has the reference to the editorial ‘Pernicious bandh culture’ (The Sentinel, October 11). As a matter of fact the frequent bandhs create a great monetary loss to Assam. The state suffered a loss of Rs 2,943.25 crores in 2014 with as many as 68 days lost to bandhs called by various organisations. It is true that the districts that suffered heavy monetary loss due to bandhs include gaon, Sonitpur, Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri. It is also true that the districts that suffered major loss due to district bandhs include Kamrup, Kamrup Metro including Guwahati city, Tinsukia and Barpeta.

The economic condition of Assam is not at all satisfactory. The frequent bandhs hit production, income, per-capita income which is very low in Assam and for which Assam’s future is at stake. No bandh has even helped the people; on the contrary, it inconveniences the public, hurts daily-wage earners, causes damage to public property and jeopardizes the peace of the state. Though protests are acceptable in a democracy, they should not be a cause of misery.

Satish Kumar Sarma,

Kalyanpur, Biswath Chariali.

Little Flower School, Dibrugarh

When a particular school run exclusively by Christian missiory with its backdrop of reputed history, when some celebrity studied once in the school, the school authority has every reason to feel complacent taking it for granted that there must be scramble for admission among the elite echelons of the city and that any wrong done by the school authority must be silently borne by the guardians of the students. It seems, the school authority is living in a fool’s paradise.

A section of the press flashed a news item about the bullying tactic of the school. It so happened in the Little Flower School, Dibrugarh, one of the oldest English medium schools of Assam, where Miss Universe Sushmita Sen once studied, that some students of Class IV talked noisily, when they noticed that their sister had not turned up during the stipulated time, some girls started talking noisily, just then another sister appeared on the scene and warned all the students that stern action would be taken the next day. Accordingly, on the next day, the sister summoned 20 girls suspected to have been involved in raising hue and cry and asked them to keep standing for 5 hours and then they were allowed to take tiffin squatting on the floor. On learning the issue some guardians became furious and were about to file an FIR against the school authority but the authority somehow maged to hush up the matter. It is inhuman to inflict mental and physical torture on the small girls. The tale does end here. The school authority sometimes, in a show of temerity hurts the sentiment of the guardians. For instance, in Diwali festival, there is one holiday, if for solemnizing the Laxmi or Kali Puja by the members of the family upto dawn next day, some students cannot attend school, the absence is viewed with seriousness by the school authority who are inscrutible.

Government of Assam always harps on the same string that all the English medium schools of the state would be bridled. But the reality speaks otherwise.

Ashok Bordoloi,

Dibrugarh.