Letters to the Editor

Is Assam at Advantage?

This refers to the Advantage Assam campaign launched by the Assam Government in the first week of February with great pomp and show. Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal has given the impression that one of the best places in India for big business houses, both from within the country and outside, is Assam. The State is violence-free and has huge potential for tourism, the government says. We also hear tall talks of tea tourism, golf tourism, medical tourism, rural tourism, and what not! Then we definitely also hear of ‘knowledge edge’: how our youth are fluent in English, how they are suitable for BPO jobs, etc.

But look at the condition of our roads. Even the tiol highways on both sides of the Brahmaputra are in a dilapidated state. It is a nightmare to travel on these roads. Travelling by bus may a bit more comfortable because these heavy vehicles can absorb shocks better as compared to light vehicles like car. What I mean to say is that if you travel in a car from Guwahati to Dibrugarh, you are sure to have great body ache the next day. Maybe you won’t be able to do anything but just lie on your bed for fast relief. This is not done in ‘Advantage Assam’.

The rural scerio is dismal. Roads here are in a very pathetic state. People are having a very harrowing time because no politician visits them for listening to their problems and for solving these vital life-and-death issues. Their netas visit them only when elections are near and votes must be earned by any means. Is this democracy in the real sense? I don’t think so.

Bibek Talukdar,

lbari.

Tackle this Monster

Yet again the monster has revisited us – the monster in the form of question paper leak. It is not just about one subject. As many as three subjects have gone through a heavy turbulence – mathematics, chemistry and biology. The HS biology exam in Assam under the State Council has been rescheduled. And under the scanner is a so-called academy of Goalpara, Goalpara Academy.

It’s strange that model question papers on those three subjects given to the students of the academy should be so close to the ones that have been set in the board exam. There is cent per cent similarity in one subject. This cannot be coincidence. There must be some foul play.

Who is responsible? I believe a syndicate is at work, involving some board officials, teachers and other unscrupulous elements whose only business is such syndicates of different kinds to cheat people and mint money by the most illegal ways.

The enquiry that has been ordered must go deep and dig the monster out.

Sumit Kashyap,

Chandmari, Guwahati.