Friday, March 29, 2024
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The environment deserves our attention

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Editor,

Lack of awareness is one of the major causes why modern problems tend to escalate themselves. If we are not warned that an action or an event is hazardous, or even a threat to our very existence we will not pay attention until it becomes a political matter or an agenda. Recently, I came to realise the lack of awareness about environmental crisis in our own state.

 In a world where our careers or our future are our main priorities, students work hard to achieve their goals. As a matter of fact, most of the careers that students opt for were first sown in the minds by their parents. As a student myself I face the same situation but I am passionate about the environment and it’s biodiversity, and I want to pursue learning and discovering ways to sustain it. When I brought this up to the adults they were disappointed that I wasted two years studying science, scoring  good aggregate marks and then picked this course. What they want to say is that I should I have opted for other courses rather than be an environmentalist which is not a good career option.

Hearing all their opinions made me realise that environmental studies in our state is taken very lightly. But I don’t blame the elders for the lack of awareness and lack of concern. Environmental studies/ Environmental education was never considered a major subject in school. Most people are aware of the impact of climate change, our loss of biodiversity, species extinction, and our very delicate ecosystem, but they believe that healing and restoring our earth is someone else’s responsibility. Why isn’t such an important subject, not given equal importance as other subjects? Planting of saplings and caring for our earth is embedded in the minds of students only on World Environment Day. How do these saplings turn out to be? We really don’t know!

We come across ads and promos about climate change; we can see the situation around the world and about our polar regions but we brush the thought off because running around to make our careers and manipulating our earth through urbanization and industrialization to make our lives easier and livelihoods aplenty is what society believes is important.

The government should make more effort to spread awareness about conservation, preservation and protection of the environment, to make people aware of the environmental crisis the world is currently facing. We need to promote sustainable development even in our rural areas.

Yours etc.,

Lapynhun Kharkongor,

Via email

Everything’s in a name

Editor

I am delighted to note that the Shillong International Centre for Performing Arts & Culture at Mawdiangdiang is coming up very well and the Government has rightly sanctioned more funds towards its completion. I had been to this site in July 2019, and was impressed by the architecture and planning, and I would be one among the thousands who are rightly proud to of this Centre in Shillong/Meghalaya.

 However, I have a few suggestions to make if the Government would consider it. Firstly, the

 Centre should be named by one word – that of a flower, river, etc, and not as SICPAC, which is the abbreviation for the Centre. This is mainly for two reasons – It does not sound healthy and nor does it carry any meaning. The entire description of the centre can come as a tagline, Say Rose… International

The centre should be professionally run by a capable organisation yielding revenue for the Government which has invested dearly in the project, so that it does not become a continuous drag on Govt. resources. Those running the Centre should also be accountable for maintenance of the premises and the state-of-the-art equipments being installed.

Government guidelines on letting it become commercially viable, with no unnecessary controls on operating the place, will make this a shining project, for which we all can continue to be proud of, for perpetuity.

Yours etc.,

Kishan Tibrewalla,

Hotel Polo Towers,

Shillong

EPFO fails to address grievance

Editor,

As per the reports in your daily, the EPFO Shillong disbursed Rs 5.76 crore to 1659 members as Covid-19 advance during the Lockdown period from April to July. The officers and staff have been working tirelessly to ease the financial burden of their members enrolled at EPFO during this period of financial crisis. It is praiseworthy of them to have served the people during this crisis. But my personal experience with the EPFO Department of Shillong, have been bitter. I had put forward my grievances to the concerned authorities through various platforms of EPFO, Shillong many times but they failed to address the issue every time. I had even written a letter to the editor in this newspaper on September 21, 2018 but that too could not draw the attention of the concerned authority to my problem.

I was enrolled in EPFO service in 2010 and due to change of my workplace, I had to quit in May 2016. I was told by the officer from EPFO that I can place my claim only after the completion of two months from the day of my quitting the job. As per instructions, I visited the office two months later to put forward my claim but they told me that due to some technical problems my claim could not be processed. I was told to fill some forms and submit them in the office, which I did. After a few more months I again visited the EPFO office to enquire about the claim but was told that prior to 2012 the entry was done manually but after 2012 it had gone online so the Department is having a tough time to compile the same. Moreover the EPFO office Shillong cannot do the updating on their own if they do not get any notice from the Head Office. As per the instructions of the officer in EPFO office Shillong, I was again told to put in my claim which I did so in October 2017 but it got rejected with the explanation that my name did not tally with the one in the office and also my KYC was not updated. After getting that message, I updated my KYC but again when I checked my e-passbook it did not reflect my contribution prior to March 2012.

It is very disappointing for me not to get back my hard earned money at the right time in spite of running from pillar to post for the same. From May 2016 till date my grievances with EPFO office Shillong are still not being addressed. Through this letter I request the concerned Department and the Head Office of EPFO to kindly expedite such matters. As per the statement given by Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, K K Srivastava, the claims of EPFO members regarding provident fund, pensions, EDLI and other advances are settled within 20 days but in my case it has taken more than four years and my claim is still pending. The Nidhi Aapke Nikat Programme for redressal of grievances of employees and employers is held on the 10th of each month or the next working day but surprisingly my grievance listed in the grievance portal of EPFO Office, Shillong is lying unattended for years.

Yours etc.,

Anil Singh Roka

Shillong -2

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