Minister as passenger
Minister Urban and Municipal Affairs, Ampareen Lyngdoh took a ride in one of the Shillong Public Transport Service (SPTS) buses at 5.45 pm on March 19 to understand the difficulties of the passengers and also to check on the proper release of tickets. The bus started from Police Bazar and was bound for Laitumkhrah. The conductor gave the Minister and those who accompanied her the tickets. Ampareen found the bus well maintained and it was not over crowded. She, however, was annoyed over the frequent use of cell phone by the driver of the bus while driving. The Minister is now planning to issue strict guidelines to the drivers to follow the rules which would ensure the safety of passengers. A slew of other measures will also be implemented to improve the bus services including the need to adhere to strict timings so that the buses reach their destinations in the shortest possible time. Ampareen also plans to extend the timings of the SPTS buses up to at least 10 pm every day.
Half-baked school
Students of a school in Motinagar are being taught by a bunch of untrained teachers. The students we are told are mostly from neighbouring Bangladesh. Meanwhile the school management is only interested in collecting fees and is levying other charges under different heads, despite the poor quality education. Apparently the school has only two senior and capable teachers. The others are mere novices. The point with private schools is that they get away with mediocrity. And Government does not care about making them comply to basis requirements. In this school some students are brighter and quicker on the uptake than the teachers. Obviously when the school authorities pay peanuts they can only get monkeys. But the next question is equally mind boggling. Why should parents patronise these half-baked institutions merely because they are located in Shillong?
Insensitive police
In a major case of police goof-up, a juvenile, Abhiyan Rajalim Rai was allegedly locked up in police custody for four days before being taken to the juvenile home on March 16 informed a city-based lawyer. The juvenile was purportedly arrested recently against Rynjah PS Case No. 16 (3) 2013 under section 379/34 and was granted bail on March 19. According to legal experts this is a case of gross negligence on the part of the police when there are clear cut laws under the Juvenile Justice Act about how to treat minors committing crime. The lawyers feel that this case cannot go unnoticed by the State Social Welfare Department. They have urged all the NGOs dealing with child rights to take up this matter in right earnest. These lawyers feel that though courts can take suo-moto action it is the responsibility of society to express their concern and also condemn such matters so that they are not repeated.