Letters to the Editor: Tragic end of a school girl

Priya Kumari, an aspiring class XI student, had to pay with her life at an unmarked dug-up pit for water pipe laying on the road left unprotected by the private agency engaged by the Guwahati Jal Board. While on the scooter, as a pillion rider, she could not negotiate an open and unprotected obstruction, and she fell and was crushed under the rear wheel of a running school bus. After this incident, the government has since stopped digging roads in Guwahati, but this action is simply eyewash to pacify public ire. Such accidental fatalities have been taking place in the city as a fact of continuity without the government ever taking strong steps to pursue and penalize the erring company and the executing department. The government’s control and supervision of road projects has been very lax, which has multiplied the inconvenience for the commuting public. The relevant department and the private agencies are solely responsible for their criminal negligence. The safety of the citizens has never been a concern for the government or the construction companies. The open manhole on the footpath is another hazardous spot where, not long ago, a lady at Silpukhuri had to meet her death as she fell into an uncovered manhole hidden under rainwater.

In the instant case, no words are enough to express grief over the tragic death of a schoolgirl. We pray to God for her eternal peace and solace for the bereaved family. The company as well as the relevant departmental officials must be booked for their negligence and failure to perform public duty. The government must also formulate proper guidelines for carrying out construction and digging on the roads to strengthen safety considerations and enforce their strict adherence from now on to save precious human lives.

Pannalal Dey,

Guwahati.

Guwahati a ‘living hell’

I am writing this in reference to your editorial on June 11 and the earlier one on June 4. During the last fortnight, your esteemed paper has published quite a few reports, letters, write-ups, etc., as well as electronic media discussions and reports, but I wonder how seriously the administration is taking all these. As apprehended, the inevitable has happened, and a budding girl has lost her life due to the sheer negligence of the powers that be. There is none to check the work being done all over the city in a most haphazard and unimaginative manner. I remember, two years ago, when the CM, after assuming the offices, went to your office, seeking, among others, the priorities that should be for the new government. Unfortunately, after a good start, the government has lost its priority. The number one failure is that of the Jal Board, which wasted crores of public money without a result. The Board should be reconstituted with able retired technocrats, as the Kamrup (M) DC; however efficient one may be, is too busy a post and cannot do justice to the work of the Jal Board. Next should be the completion of all drains and roadwork before starting any more new work. There should be a high-powered committee to coordinate the work of the Jal Board, drains and roads, cable network, etc. In two years, the government has initiated many works, all of public interest, one after another but has not considered the availability of expert manpower to oversee all these projects, and in the process, the priorities have shifted from old to new ones, with the end result being that most of the declared projects are not seeing their logical end.

In the above situation, I feel that for the next two years, no new projects should be started unless they are very urgent. Concentration should be on the completion of all ongoing projects. The fifth year of the government may be kept for election-oriented popular projects again. The proposed shifting of the High Court or Flyover from T.C. Girls’ School to Noonmati should not be a priority now. Coats should always be cut according to availability. Lastly, the APDCL should be made to work in favour of the consumers, so the GMC should not increase the property by 200 per cent or more against non-services.

P.K. Gupta,

Rukmininagar.

Mind is the culprit

The recent brutal killing of a woman in Thane by her live-in partner has sent shockwaves across the country. It’s especially frightening that there are signs of the new modus operandi of disposing of a woman’s body staying here. From Delhi to Thane, the extremely despicable method looks like it has “attracted” murderers. Provocation for the killing and cutting of a human body apart, it is important for psychologists to go deep into why cold-blooded murders like the Thane one are executed without a fear in the world by some modern-day killers. The deceased and the accused had stayed together for quite some time; both were adults, but the disturbing aspect of the gory crime at Thane is that at least one of the two didn’t think or behave like a mature adult.

By all accounts, however, none of the two couples in Delhi and Thane had retained any kind of ties with any close or distant relatives, which in itself speaks about the intricacies of social isolation. Therefore, notwithstanding the other factors that may have contributed to the deadly killing and body disposal, everything boils down to the mind. Either you control the mind or the mind controls you, because the mind is a wonderful servant but a lousy master. The gory nature of the Thane crime almost also indicates the act was not instantaneous. The inability of a criminal to reconcile with the stark truth that the laws of the land would catch up sooner rather than later is both sad and intriguing.

Dr Ganapathi Bhat,

(gbhat13@gmail.com.)