Letters to the Editor

BJP in Assam

In the BTC election, most of us claimed that it is the semi-final for the BJP to measure their strength as well as popularity among the people of Assam. If we look at the pi diagram of the election result of the BTC, the performance of the BJP is fairly well, but not able to stand up to expectation.

It is seen that the wave of the CAA is in most parts of the State. And it may deviate the mind of the voters to some extent in the upcoming Assembly election. Secondly, COVID pandemic may be one of the factors which helped the rulling party to realize the voters that BJP is the true friend of people of Assam. The BJP-led government is giving free treatment to COVID-19 patients. It is well said, a friend in need is a friend in deed.

Thirdly, the government gave free admission in universities, colleges, and higher secondary schools in Assam during the current academic year or during the time of pandemic. Fourthly, it provided the benefits of regular pay scale to 29,701 teachers under the Sarba Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), 11,206 contractual State pool teachers and 5,243 high school contractual teachers on a par with educators in government schools. We, the people of the State are eagerly waiting to see the spell of Himanta and counter attack of the Congress, BPF and other political parties in the upcoming Assembly Election in Assam.

Indrajit Sarma,

Dibrugarh

Government is responsible for developmental works

While inaugurating some schemes at Tingkhong, a few days ago our CM Sarbananda Sonowal proudly mentioned some works done for the people during his tenure like construction of roads, bridges, water supply, distribution of land pattas, etc. But all these are the regular public works which any State government is bound to perform. In addition to these functions, a welfare State is obliged to perform many other works for the promotion of all-round development of people. If such works are not done by the government, then what for our government exists?

At the same time we must also remind our CM what works he could not do and what he must not have done for Assam and its people. He like all other CMs could not protect the indigenous inhabitants of the State against the aggression of Nagas , Mizos and other citizens of our neighbouring States. Neither he could exert legitimate pressure on the Central government of his own party to interfere with the enroachment into Assam and occupy our lands. He allowed the sixth clause of Assam Accord not to be implemented despite the fact of his repeated assurance of jati, mati, bheti for the people of Assam. He could not, like other CMs, mitigate inhuman sufferings of the flood victims of Assam. He could not construct the river embankments well ahead of the rainy season because of which these are washed away under the pressure of first rain.

We fail to understand why he kept pending the welfare schemes for the people and assure them with promises after promises near the general election. Many of these promises remain unfulfilled while some others are associated with political scams. Coming into power the Assam government declared many districts including Biswanath Chariali where only a DC was appointed and one district level office was established till now. Now his government declares Bajali and Tamulpur as new districts. When our CM advised his Ministers to cut unnecessary expenditure, his three Ministers spent almost Rs 1.5 crore in the name of renovation of their rooms.

Paramananda Bora,

Guwahati.

CCTV in police stations

Recently, the Supreme Court has ordered that CCTV cameras should be installed at all police stations in the country in order to ensure transparency in police functioning. Indeed, this is a welcome step in protecting the basic rights of suspects, or the accused more so when the law considers all the accused as innocent until they are declared guilty by a court. However, the ground realities prevailing in the country are altogether different. In most of the cases, innocent are just picked up either at the wink of a powerful, or an influential person or at the whims and fancies of the men in khakhi. Moreover, what is strange is that when our courts have repeatedly hailed that any statement made before the police by an accused u/s 161 of Cr. P.C is of no value for deciding the matter before the court, in most of the cases under the garb of extracting confession, the police indulges in third degree practices. Still what is more baffling is that even when an accused voluntarily admits his guilt, some policemen derive pleasure in cleaning their hands' on him. It is unfortunate that some of the policemen consider themselves above the law and boast that nothing can prevent them from using brutal force on anybody. Though the idea of installing CCTV cameras in the police stations is good, yet it is doubtful whether the same would yield the desired results. The policemen, especially corrupt ones know that there are a more than a hundred ways to circumvent the CCTV camera eye. The torture, harassment, extortion and all sorts of atrocities can be easily perpetrated on the branded suspects or the accused by the police if not within the police station limits, but the whole world outside.

Vijaykumar H K,

hkvkmech@gmail.com

Poor Chandrababu Naidu

Chandrababu Naidu, once a formidable force in the southern State of Andhra Pradesh, in fact was the Chief Minister of the State. Naidu's party TDP was a trusted ally of the BJP but all of a sudden he quit the alliance and decided to go with now defunct Third Front just before the 2019 Parliamentary polls. The son in law of Lt. NT Rama Rao dreamt big of becoming Prime Minister and his arrogance and over ambitious nature let him down in due course of time. Not only he was subjected to humiliating defeat but also became politically oblivion. The recently held Hyderabad municipal election is a direct pointer as his party TDP just managed to secure a lone seat. The powerhouse of Hyderabad is now a lone ranger in the political arena of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. This is the price an over ambitious political leader has to pay. Going by the present scene Uddhav Thackeray may be next in the line.

Dr. Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati

Choice of vaccine

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) cannot be faulted for hesitating on 'emergency use approval' for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Astra Zeneca and Bharat Biotech - reportedly on grounds of inadequate data.

While India needs to vaccinate large sections of its population at the earliest, any serious lapse in safety and efficacy in the initial stages can derail the entire vaccination effort by turning the public mood against the initiative. The CDSCO must fully satisfy itself, on the basis of Phase III clinical trials that the vaccines can be rolled out in Indian conditions. While rushing to meet stringent timelines, it must be kept in mind that India's daily disease count is down to mid July levels of sub 40, 000, considerably below the mid-September peak of close to 100,000 cases. The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration has laid out a vaccination plan that will first cover 30 crore people, which includes frontline healthcare workers and those above 50 years of age.

Chandan Kumar Nath,

Sorbhog.

Black marketing of stamp papers

It is observed that there is shortage of non-judicial stamp papers for which common people have to face much difficulty. People have to go to vendors and it is heard that some vendors charge exorbitant amount for the same.

I request the Government to take necessary action in the matter so that common people are not harassed.

Putul Sarma,

Biswanath Chariali.