Avoid stunts!
Political leaders try to be in limelight in some way or the other even though there are restrictions due to the imposition of Code of Conduct during elections. NCP candidate for Parliamentary election, Partha Pawar, with a strong aura of Pawar family (being the son of MLA Ajit Pawar and grandson of Sharad Pawar) is presently leading on this front. On media, he was seen canvassing by travelling in a rickshaw as it was realised that he would take some time for learning how to give speeches. In the last few days, Partha Pawar was seen travelling in a local train; followed with a video made viral, in which he was seen running on the road. This was followed with his traveling in a bullock cart for canvassing. In short, he seems to be trying hard to be in limelight by doing something different every day. Samir Bhujbal, NCP’s candidate for Parliamentary elections, from Nashik constituency, travelled by Panchavati Express and tried to win over people’s sentiments. In last Parliamentary elections, Congress Party-President Rahul Gandhi had beaten all records of publicity. Such stunts may get instant publicity through media but it becomes a difficult task for a security system to manage these leaders in the crowd. These leaders are later, never seen mixing with ordinary citizens in this manner, after the elections. Therefore, the Election Commission should impose restrictions over such stunts!
Jagan Ghanekar
April Fool!
The first day of the month of April is called ‘All Fools’ Day’ or ‘April Fool’s Day’. On this day, people take delight in playing practical jokes on each other. The custom started in Rome when King Leopold of Belgium, who was married in Rome, was made a fool of by his sister-in-law when he went to his father-in-law’s palace on the first of April by mistake as he had been invited there on first of May.
Today, several centuries later, April fool is played on people on a large scale. It is played by students in schools and colleges and also by employees with their colleagues in offices. It is also played at home with neighbours and family members. So be alert and don’t get April fooled this year.
However, instead of playing jokes on people on April Fool’s Day, I suggest you plant at least one sapling in your surroundings to make it an April Cool Day. This small campaign of yours may help in making this earth cool and a better place to live in.
Jubel D’Cruz
Matunga Road Bridge in danger
There is a fear among passerby after two bridges in the Mumbai city collapsed in the last nine months span. The infrastructural section taking the onus of pinpointing cracks in the Matunga Road Bridge while people taking all the precautions to avoid this corridor and moving from this side to the other side. Big cracks on the FOB are the cause for worry. Deep cracks are seen down the middle of this bridge, while the staircases are also in a state of disrepair. As usual, the BMC denied there is nothing wrong with the bridge. Citizens backtrack and fear safety passing through the FOB as the one in Andheri and more recently near CSMT fell during daylight. It is a matter of shame that taxpayers money is going to drain and both BMC and Railways play the blame game at each other and delay repair or demolishing work. Better council should prevail to clear the sooner to avoid tragedy.
Chinna Kozhikode Ramaniam
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
