Editor,
There has been a power cut in the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) due to a spark in the transformer since Aug 19, 2012 and since then there is no light and water supply in the campus. The new temporary transformer worth rupees one crore (approx) got overloaded and spoiled within few hours of installation on Aug 21. The black-out has been extended to another 10 days from today ( Aug 24 – Sep 2) which means, NEHU has gone out of power, water and ATM for 15 days. The new permanent transformer will take a month to reach NEHU from Kolkata and get installed. This is not a joke!
None of the students’ union is saying anything. Some of them are calling this a ‘natural calamity’. The generator is working in the Life Sciences schools for the experiments and the VC’s residence. What about the departments in the School of Humanities and the 22 hostels? Who needs it more? It is a hopeless situation in NEHU but the UG/ PG. students seem to be happy with the class cancellation for those days. Students’ attitude towards this situation is weird compared to other universities like DU and JNU, etc. Everyday, the campus shopkeepers are raising the prices of candles. Hostellers need to go outside the campus for a charging the phone, laptop and the phone recharge, including withdrawing money from the ATM. Free candles have been provided only in one hostel and no mineral water is provided to any of the hostels. It is a difficult time for us and we can only grumble and do nothing about it. Never before have our needs been so brutally covered up. Where is the right to information here? People do not know what happens in NEHU- the past VC strike incident and how the campus residents suffered (where is the VC protest now?). The murder mystery case of James Rongmei (it was silenced forever for the sake of NEHU reputation; call it racial discrimination or selfish interest, but he never got justice and media coverage like Loitam Richard and Dana Sangma) and the present ‘no light, no water, no money’ crisis is the height of our problem. We request the authorities and the people concerned to not just look into the situation but also do something as soon as possible. We are forced to go home in the middle of the year,
when we, the research scholars, are supposed to be taking classes, submitting synopsis, thesis, etc. It is against our will! We have been discriminated and neglected. Being outsiders was never easy. But being NEHUites, that too hostellers, is even worse. Help us, please!
Yours etc.,
Suffering hostellers,
(name withheld on request)
NEHU, Shillong-22
Ambulance is not mortuary van
Editor,
A couple of days ago, I visited a friend in the Shillong Civil Hospital. There I saw a dead body being carried in an ambulance. I talked to a public representative from an urban constituency (whose name I do not wish to mention) to ask him how a dead body can be ferried home in an ambulance. He replied that such practice is common. An ambulance is meant to carry people who are alive but sick or injured from their respective homes or where the accident occurred to the hospital for treatment. However, if a person dies in the hospital or nursing home it is wrong to call an ambulance to carry the dead body to their home or cemetery. What is needed is a hearse or mortuary van to transport the dead body. This is the International Law as laid down by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Red Cross Organisation. But for politicians nothing like this seems to matter especially since elections are just a few months away. Sitting and wannabe politicians will be purchasing ambulances to transport both the living and the dead in the same vehicle only to appease the gullible citizens particularly those from the rural areas. With the 108 Ambulances available 24×7 politicians must and should purchase mortuary vehicles and not fool people all the time.
Yours etc.,
Cliff R Sohtun
Shillong -6 .
Third class mobile connectivity
Editor,
Perhaps through your paper I can express the frustration that I and everybody else has to go through every time we are in Shillong. Its virtually impossible to have a complete and a satisfying conversation using a mobile phone. Using words like ‘hello’, ‘sorry,’ many more times than once and ‘can’t hear you’, ‘you’re breaking up’ etc is routine as well as annoying. Someone told us that the mobile companies use transmitters with obsolete technologies (still in working condition) in the North-East as these are unacceptable in other parts of the country. If the people of the North-East are alright with this and don’t really care if the conversation lasts ten minutes instead of a possible four, so be it. But, if the masses wish to be a part of a better world of mobile communication, they should collectively voice their opinion
Yours etc.,
Ambarika Guha,
Via email