Editor,
Apropos the news item “KSU may approach NGT over ‘blue’ Lukha river” (ST of Feb 3, 2017), I must fully appreciate the KSU Narpuh unit which is concerned about the pollution of the mighty Lukha river of Jaiñtia Hills. This river is the lifeline of so many villages in the eastern part of Jaintia Hills. It is the wealth of not only the Jaintia Hills but of the whole Meghalaya. In fact it used to be the sanctuary of rich varieties of fishes and other aquatic lives. Fishes like cat fish, river sharks, trouts, eels, tenchs, white sturgeons, common carps, grass carps, mahseer and so many other varieties of fish. It was reported that the river has turned bluish during 2007-2008 and that all types of fish and aquatic lives floated dead on the surface of the river and also remained dead in the river bed.
According to reports the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board conducted surveys and pointed out that the pollution of the river was due to the extraction of coal. But when coal extraction has been banned by the NGT the river still turns blue which goes contrary to the findings of the MSPCB. Therefore, the cause for pollution of the river ought to be from the toxic chemicals emission from the Cement Plants from Lumchong and other catchment areas of Lukha river, which the MSPCB has conveniently and discreetly left out. This very serious!
Therefore, it is right and fitting that complaints ought to be lodged with the NGT against the Cement plants by all interested individuals and groups who are concerned with rampant pollution of the water bodies and the environment as a whole. I urge upon the KSU Narpuh Unit (circle) to take this matter to its logical conclusion. Again, I must point out here that the giant cement plants of the state, especially of Jaintia Hills, have been established many years ago and they have made enough wealth from Meghalaya whereas their contributions to the state exchequer is a pittance and employment generation is almost nil. In fact they have enjoyed crores of rupees of subsidies from the Industry Department of Meghalaya. This cannot be allowed to go on indefinitely.
Yours etc.,
Philip Marweiñ,
Shillong-2.
Cashless might make us restless
Editor,
We heard a roar of applause and criticism over the present budget! Yes, it’s the first budget in the time of financial uncertainties and the industrial downturn. Every citizen has been haunted by the dreadful specter of demonetization. More so when the Central Government goes all out to push the idea of cashless economy! All glory to our visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this revolutionary step. Well, E-wallet, NFT, UPI, IMPS, VPA, Bhim, Digi Dhan.., being the new vocabularies, are going to hog the major business operations from now on. No denying, even the literate is awfully confused as to how all these e-transactions work and in what way they facilitate in becoming cashless.
Another worrying factor is how reliable all these digital transactions are. Many have long been voicing their concerns as to their safety and security features. Needless to say, many ill-fated people have been left in the lurch since their e-transferred money did not get credited to the 2nd parties’ accounts. Just recently, even my own transaction in favour of BSNL through PayTm did not get through.
With regards to credit cards many have sad tales to tell. I personally had a number of hot exchanges with HDFC bank representatives. It was because the bank had reimbursed only small amount from the integrated source account by leaving the bigger expenditure-amount as “loan” against which I had to pay interest every month. Such instances usually escape the attention of most customers and the bank keep collecting the interest in spite of having “sufficient balance” in the main account. This is due to the default system set up by most of the bank. So, it takes the alertness of an expert who can himself change the option from “minimum auto-pay” to “full-auto-pay”. Thus, for the lay person it’s not always delightful to go on the online shopping spree through credit cards. Another monstrous threat is the cyber scam. This has made the e-transaction frighteningly vulnerable. The mobile user must know a series of do’s and don’ts about the privacy and security features.
Hence before trumpeting the “cashless” exercise which is mostly done through mobile phones, the government should ward off all the cyber scammers and also warn the bankers from adopting hidden tricks to steal the customer’s money. These days robbers don’t come with pistols and guns to rob your wealth. They now have hi-tech virtual avatars. They attack and plunder you with the help of phishing emails, desktop pop-ups, intrusive malwares and so on. Now decide judiciously which is better – pocket ATM or PayTm?
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali
Shillong-2
HM should resign
Editor,
By stubbornly refusing to resign against public interest, our Meghalaya Home minister is averting his duty as an elected representative. His stubbornness is discrediting our democratic institution. It is also an example of an acutely irresponsible and unprincipled politics and it has further worsened the condition of our state’s degenerate politics. And by holding on to power rather than serving the public interest, Meghalaya Home Minister has shaken the public’s faith in the present Government.
Yours etc.,
T Fightingstar L Mawlong