Editor,
If the idea of a Smart City is to dig up roads that disrupt people’s water supply pipelines and their underground cables without a care in the world and any consultation with residents, then Shillong should continue to remain unsmart. God only knows how a city turns smart by reconstructing roadside drains and markets. If making roadside drains with service ducts is a very smart and innovative thing then some of our MLAs must be pioneers in smartness having constructed not one but two service ducts on both sides of the roads leaving vehicle drivers struggling to keep the wheels of their vehicles on the uniform ground. It often looks like the government enjoys putting people in misery. Not only that, they bring in so-called experts from some corner of the country, set up companies, throw in parabole and high-sounding numbers in crores and finally end up making our drains smart. It is like unsmart rainwater and sewage will not be allowed into the smart drains or unsmart people without smartphones or watches will not be allowed into the smart markets in future. Ridiculous to say the least.
Once some smart alec in New Delhi cries Smart, the rest of the country joins the chorus without understanding a word of it. First, get your basic infrastructure in the city right. Despite crores having gone in, many localities reel under severe water scarcity, water logging after every heavy shower, water pipes running as serpents along roads, footpaths and drains. More water goes out through leaking pipes than reaching households. The quality of water is at god’s mercy; electric wires and cables garland the skyline, roads have more vehicles than people, public transport is like a temporary resting place for weary travellers; drains are like garbage dumping places; sewerage system is non-existent; buildings jostling with neighbouring buildings to reach higher.
In so many decades, there are no plans for new green spaces or parks and playgrounds, no civic body and no institutional arrangement for future planning and development of the city. Add to all this the very limited on-line facility to access basic services or lodging complaints yet, by reconstructing some stretches of roads and roadside drains and some markets, we expect Shillong to turn into a Smart City. As the saying goes, you can fool some people sometimes but not all the people at all times.
We all know that the crores that are being spent to make Shillong smart are to enrich our contractors sitting in high places and nothing else. Well, elections are near and soon the smart people of Meghalaya will cast their smart votes to elect a new smart government. Hopefully, that new government will not go by rhetoric and hype but make living easier for the people of the state.
Yours etc.,
Emica Nongkynrih
Via email
Is a road show by the PM justified?
Editor
Whether a road show by the Prime Minister in Delhi to attend a party meeting is justified can be left to the wisdom of the countrymen. After losing the Himachal Pradesh assembly election and corporation elections in Delhi there is worry in the BJP rank and file about the upcoming assembly elections in nine states this year. This roadshow appears to counter the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi which is attracting huge crowds and is a cause for concern for the BJP.
The ground reality is that no department of the central government is attending to public grievances. Even the PM’s portal for grievances of the common man is not active and no one attends to the complaints of the common man. Everyone is tired of the workings of various departments of the Government. The PM should pay attention to the complaints of the public including the disabled who are being hugely discriminated against by all which is visible in the insensitive attitude of the Government towards the disabled. Being a disability activist I would like to share my experience.
The present government has been in office for over seven years and I hope the Prime Minister is getting regular reports of complaints of the common masses. Through this letter I request the Prime Minister to treat my case as a ‘test case’ so that each ministry is hauled up for harassing ordinary citizens and the disabled. No one wants to solve the grievances of a common man. Now I come to the very poor service of PG-PORTAL. It appears that this Department is engaged in showing quantitative figures and not qualitative performance. Any grievance dealt by the Grievances Redressal Department is another headache for a common man. I am surprised whether there is any one to keep track of whether the common man is satisfied after the problems are addressed.
The Disabilities Açt was passed by Parliament in 1996 and the second Disabilities Act was passed in 2016 but sadly even after 26 years the Açts remain only on paper and are not implemented meticulously. I had brought this to the notice of the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Chairman, Rajya Sabha including many members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and many reminders were sent in this regard but no one even acknowledged the letters. It is in the interest of the BJP that proper attention be given to problems of the common masses.
Finally, I request the Prime Minister to treat this letter as a ‘test case’ to see the miserable handling of the common man’s grievances by his Government.
Yours etc.,
Yash Pal Ralhan,
Via email
Vacancies in Inspectorate of Electricity
Editor,
The Inspectorate of Electricity had issued an advertisement on March 2, 2021, regarding vacancies in this office. However, till date, no update has been provided and candidates have been kept in the dark about the selection/interview.
It is requested that concerned authorities may please look into the matter and provide necessary updates to aspiring candidates.
Yours etc.,
R. Lyngdoh
Shillong- 1