Editor,
A rapist goes scot free just because the persecution fails to nail the lies that are told. This is with reference to the recent news of a case gone haywire in which a minor girl was tricked, molested and raped. The irony here is that those social pressure groups who clamour for media spotlight seem to have lost steam in pursuing the matter to its logical end, while the poor victim languishes without a fair hearing. The attitude of the local magistrate and the cops is also equally pathetic. They have asked her to compromise with the rapist which in other words means that they are treating this case very lightly. We must remember that the Supreme Court has said that every woman has her own dignity which is her birthright. I hope the law department calls in for an examination of this particular case lest the virus affects other young girls and sullies the image of our state and community.
Yours etc.,
Dominic S. Wankhar
Shillong-3
Anomalies in LPG distribution
Editor,
Through your esteemed daily I would like to drawn the attention of the District Administration, East Khasi Hills, regarding the anomalies in distribution of LPG cylinders by the United Fruit Gas Agency which is the lone distributor in our locality (Pynthorumkhrah). By allocating specific areas to a single operator what is favouring them is that they are running a monopoly business without any competitors and the customers are solely at the mercy of these distributors. Firstly they are not delivering the refilled cylinders on time and it is now going to be almost two months (on 21/10/2012) since the time they have last delivered a filled-in cylinder in that locality. On top of that every household is legally getting a single connection to survive. Do the administrators ever think what hard times we are going through? Is it possible in any way to run a household consisting of an average family using a single cylinder for two months? To add salt to our wounds we get to see a news item (published in The Shillong Times dated 11-10-2012) declaring the effective date for price hike. Perhaps the distributor was waiting for the hike in price and was therefore withholding the distribution of filled-in cylinders. Secondly whenever we get a filled-in cylinder from the distributor, the seal of the cylinder is always broken. I was witness to one such bizarre incident of tampering with the seal of the gas cylinders when I went to the Godown looking for a filled-in cylinder. Though I was rudely told not to go there again to ask for a filled cylinder I was astounded to see that they are draining out some amount of gas from the filled in cylinders with the help of a machine and filling-in empty cylinders. Therefore without taking much space and valuable time of the readers I would like to request the District Administration to look into the matter so that the common man is not put to undue harassment by the distributors and also to enable us to get the exact volume of gas that we are supposed to get by paying an exorbitant rate. Cheating by tampering of seal can be stopped by the administration simply by surprise checking or by putting a weight meter on the delivery van.
Yours etc.,
D Choudhury,
Via email
Waiting for the mishaps to happen
Editor,
Accidents do occurs and if lives are lost we can still come to terms because it’s an accident. However, there are ways and means to prevent accidents and one of them is to repair the roads that are the cause of such accidents. We see huge pot holes on the national highway yet they are neglected. I am writing this letter in particular to bring to the notice of those in charge of the Umiam Bridge (main bridge) which is in a very sorry state and has now worsened by the day. Pot holes all along the bridge are causing the vehicles to dodge and as a consequence collide with each other. Whoever is the person or authority in charge of maintaining this road should do so promptly for the safety of travellers.
Yours etc.,
Fr. Michael Makri sdb
Umsaw Kwan
Ri Bhoi District.
Another bandh, another day
Editor,
I appeal to the HANM, KSU, FKJGP, HNYF and all other bandh-centric NGOs to start thinking about the devastating impact of their bandh calls on our daily lives. The bandh culture is destroying us, and the people are completely frustrated and fed up with it. Every NGO worth its salt is trying to outdo others in calling bandhs. In fact the number of bandh calls is being used as a yardstick to measure the importance of an NGO! Don’t these people realise that they can adopt other means of peaceful protest as well? Do they always have to resort to killing us with bandh after bandh after bandh? I dare any NGO in the state to come out and say they will not resort to calling bandhs but will adopt other peaceful means of protest! If any NGO truly cares for the people they will take up my challenge.
Yours etc.,
James Pariat,
Via email