Editor,
In 1972, a series of sensitive files were allegedly destroyed via dubious means by the then Indira Gandhi Government. This came to light after the report of the then Hon’ble Justice Mukherjee Commission was released. Everyday there seems to be new revelations about Subhash Chandra Bose’s mysterious death. This raises a pertinent question on the intentions of the then Nehru regime to try to conceal very important facts about Bose. What did these documents contain that the then government of India did not want the people of the nation to know? We the people of India have the right to be informed about what exactly happened to India’s brave freedom fighter, Subhash Chandra Bose. If he didn’t die in a plane crash in Taiwan as we were made to believe, then it’s only natural and just that we are told the real truth. We demand that the BJP government declassify the important files at the earliest. It should not make the same mistakes as its predecessors. Subhash Chandra Bose was a great son of the soil. He, I believe, played an immediate role in India’s independence. He was an astute and accomplished political icon. The government should not suppress the truth. The competent authorities must look at it from a very serious perspective. There has been a serious breach of propriety. Let us pay homage to this great man. The truth is the best way we can honour him, so that he may truly have eternal rest, for as one holy book puts it, “Tthe truth shall set you free”. That’s the least he and his family deserve.
Yours etc.,
Keith Nongsteng,
Via email
II
Editor,
Who will declassify the Netaji Files? Will the Modi Government do it? For sixty years the Congress Govt at the Centre had played with the files and the West Bengal Govt too did nothing for the files ! Everybody in India by now knows who had killed Subhas Bose and the heinous politics behind this. Once the documents pertaining to Netaji’s deaths comprising letters, files, denials, snooping etc are revealed we hope that the history of India will be re-written. What the radicals are doing in Syria today, was done in India sixty years ago, but in a different form. Indians have patience and the politicians had copitalised on this since our Independence. Was Bose a war criminal as cited by an Indian politician in the late 1940s and if so naturally some of the files had to be destroyed by the Congress Govt ! I urge upon Prime Minister Modi to listen to the pleas of Netaji’s family members and not to follow the same path followed by the Congress in this context, as most of the Indian people have immense hopes and expectations from this Govt.
Yours etc.,
Anjan Kumar Das,
Shillong- 6
How much patience can patients have?
Editor,
I am an employee of the Government of Meghalaya. First of all I want to convey my heartfelt gratitude to the Health Department for their prompt action for facilitating the medical treatment of the Government employees or their next of kin, outside the State. I was one of them, who had been blessed and encouraged to proceed further for the treatment of my wife in 2013. On receipt of the OPD recommendation and referral for further investigation and treatment to CMC Vellore prior to Government approval in August and September 2013, I was confident enough to proceed further. On my return from CMC Vellore I had on many occasions enquired about the sanction and medical advance, which the Government had earmarked for the treatment, but to no avail.
This has made me lose all confidence in the Government which I have been serving for over 25 years. I feel let down and dejected. Nobody knows and can understand the feeling of insecurity and trauma that I went through after exhausting all my savings earned throughout my entire career. I even had to lie to the Government for withdrawing a certain amount from my provident fund during 2014. It was only on the April 9, 2015 that I learnt that the Government had actually lived to its commitment and concern for its own employees when it actually sanctioned the cost of treatment of my wife and also a medical advance made in October 2013. Should I say I am grateful? It seems to me that while the Govt endeavours to do right by its employees there are some vested interests who intentionally wants to torture and discouraged their fellow employees. Thanks to a person through whom I could traced back my sanctioning letter (with cob webs and full of dust) from some hidden drawers/counters in the Office of the Directorate of Health Services Meghalaya Shillong which had already lapsed, I was able to revive my claims. I was also further informed that the system of delivery of such letters in this Department is quite peculiar. Unless the patient or the beneficiary appears personally at the issue branch or the table of someone, such letters will never be issued. I made this mistake on my part. Is the Directorate functioning without Dak Runners or Peons or is it a Government Order for such procedure? .
I request the Health authorities to look into the matter and investigate, If I am wrong about the procedure, I apologise. I am writing this letter to bring back the confidence that all the Government employees should have in the Government, because I know that I am not the only one who has experienced such inhumanly treatment. I am not blaming the Government or the Directorate, but there are persons within the Directorate who have to take all the blame for this dastardly act. If the Directorate is still functioning with Dak Runners this is good news to one and all. They don’t have to run around DHS for issue of sanctions but they can devote and concentrate on their assignments in their respective offices.
Yours etc.,
D Mawroh,
Shillong – 14