Editor,
Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh appears to have got the short end of the stick in her spat with Paul Lyngdoh of the UDP. The latter has rightly pointed out the shortcomings of her dept in the matter of the beautification of Khyndailad to which the minister has taken umbrage. It would have been better if Kong Ampareen had vented her ire at the PWD instead. The minister cannot wash her hands off by stating that the money had been transferred to the PWD. The ultimate responsibility for the work getting done on time rests with her department. She has failed miserably to taken proactive steps to ensure that the PWD did not fail in its commitment. This is not the first time we have seen the Urban Affairs department fail to deliver on its promises. Take the issue of the garbage disposal project where all garbage bins were dismantled overnight without bothering to inform the public. The end result is streets littered with garbage and no garbage bin in sight! The garbage collection system is irregular and untimely in most parts of the city leaving residents with no option but to dump their rubbish on the streets. Another example is the plastic bag ban where the minister had promised to come up with an eco-friendly alternative for plastic carry bags. This too met the same fate. I suggest Kong Ampareen takes more time to look at the implementation stage of her grand plans instead of merely building castles in the air.
Yours etc.,
James Pariat
Shillong
No politics in this sport!
Editor,
In reply to the letter ‘Politics in Sports’ (Sep 22,2012) I on behalf of the concerned association would like to clarify a couple of things. Firstly, the judges concerned have in fact been keen body builders in the past. They also have experience in competing and winning past competitions. As far as their being biased is concerned, they are the same judges who have judged the event for the past two years and only last year, declared Vikash Chauhan as the winner of the competition. Secondly, as for disallowing Vikash Chauhan, a three time winner of the title from competing, the writer should have had the decency to ask the concerned person. Vikash Chauhan had willingly decided to stay away from state competitions and concentrate instead on national competitions. The association has been hosting the competition for the past 13 years and has always resorted to fair means and tried its best to develop local home talent, be it body builders or judges. In every competition there are winners and losers; and the losers feel hard done by. If the writer had directly approached the association, the problems could have been sorted out instead of making a fool of himself/herself by wrongly accusing the judges and the association without getting his/her facts right.
Yours etc.,
Secretary,
MBBFA
Accidents, rash driving by Sumos
Editor,
There are quite a few horror stories about Sumos plying on the GS Road. This is what we were told – “Most of the drivers are young men from across the border (some do not even have driving licenses). These men have little knowledge about hill driving. They are used by the owners more like machines than as humans. They get little sleep. They stuff the vehicles like sardines are stuffed in a can, except that the ratio of the humans in the Sumo is higher than the sardines in the can. As a result, the driver has to sit at an awkward angle to maneouver the car. He also has to change gears seated in that position. Then there’s the temptation of cheap alcohol being available almost everywhere. Coincidentally, most of the vehicles are registered in Assam. By upgrading the facilities on the GS road, a high percentage of accidents will be reduced. Some suggestions are 1. Have traffic police monitor these vehicles. There should be traffic police stations at distances of at least every 5 kilometers. 2. Speed guns should be introduced and speed limits should be strictly administered. 3. Breathalyser tests should be introduced.4. Errant drivers should be fined heavily and jailed.5. This should apply to the owners as well. 6. All vehicles should be subjected to these determents. 7. Last, but not the least, CCTV cameras should be installed at several vantage points. I strongly believe that the introduction of these measures will definitely improve matters. Of course, other measures like the introduction of street lights, medical facilities, fast food eating-points and toilets could make driving a real pleasure on the GS road. In fact this could well be a model for highway driving all over India.
Yours etc.,
Ambarika Guha,
Via email