Letters to the Editor: 31 July, 2019

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July 31, 2019

Don’t treat women as sex objects

It’s a pity that Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar, Punjab was not arrested and put behind bars for raping a nun from a Kerala convent thirteen times between 2014 and 2016. This clearly proves that he has bribed the police with the money he has. These days, women are treated like sex objects for men to play with. If you have the money you can get away with the crime you have committed these days.

Jubel D’Cruz

Kudos to Imran Khan

Not sure if it is another ‘Yorker’ from the Pakistan Prime Minister but Imran Khan’s candid admission that 40000 armed terrorist does operate from their shores deserve applause as he is the first PM from that country to admit it. It pays to talk with a sportsman PM and Imran Khan has certainly sent an olive leaf to PM Modi as far as peace dialogues between Indo-Pak are concerned or for that matter of a possible solution on Kashmir imbroglio goes. Pakistan is a bankrupt nation and Imran knows about India’s importance to them as a friend in need is a friend indeed, more so if it is your next door neighbour.

Pakistan is a terrorist nation and Imran Khan faces a lot of challenges from his own people. But peace is a universal language of brotherhood and humanity which needs to be respected by all. Mere assurances are no guarantee and Imran Khan should immediately release Kulbhushan Jadhav and set the ball rolling as far as future peace talks with India goes. Hope it is not a ‘googly’ from the world cup winning captain and he is indeed serious to strike a peace deal with India.

S.N. Kabra

Review security cover offered to politicians

A totally impartial review of security-cover to politicians has been done perhaps for the first time in Indian political system with security-cover cut even for many BJP and RSS leaders. This is why no one from opposition could cry over cut in status-symbol of security-cover available to many in opposition including former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

But still more is required when unnecessary security-cover still continues for several former political heavyweights including like Mulayam Singh Yadav. Union Home Ministry should have a further review of security-cover available to politicians with security either removed or reduced to bare minimum for leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Thought should also be given for reducing heavy expenses in security-cover presently separately available for each of the three member of family of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Undoubtedly threat-perception to lives of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra Gandhi should not be overlooked. But huge funds can be saved if these three are provided government-accommodation in one single complex though separately rather than in three separate government-bungalows far away from each other.

Madhu Agrawal

Triple Talaq bill passed in Rajya Sabha

Hats off for the Modi government for passing Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage Bill) 2019 in Rajya Sabha. Opposition parties are politicizing this issue for their own advantage. It is a bold move by the NDA government. Great job and proved that woman have her right and it does not depend upon her religion and this is true secularism. Let us hope that all political parties will rise above politics and dispense justice to these women folk. A right step by the Union cabinet to protect the dignity of Muslim ladies who often got harassed mentally and physically by such instant practices

Calicut Krishnan Ramani

Unnao rape case

The Unnao rape case is one where the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister must ensure justice. The prime accused is an MLA from the BJP, the party in power. CM Yogi Adityanath has done nothing to restore people’s faith when it comes to maintaining law and order. Civilised societies cannot allow the fathers of rape survivors to die in mysterious circumstances or have the survivors meeting with a suspicious accident. Kuldeep Sengar is an embarrassment for the BJP.

Satish Rohankar

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

PM Modi on Tigers in India: Part I

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Vinod Dixit

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July 31, 2019

To mark the International Tiger Day, our PM Narendra Modi has released a report titled “Management Effectiveness and Evaluation of Tiger reserves”. With around 3,000 tigers, India has become “one of the safest habitats” for the big cats in the world. The population of tigers in India has increased from 2,226 in 2014 to 2,967 in 2018, a rise of 33 per cent, according to the latest tiger census report.

India has achieved its 2022 target of tiger population in the country. It is a great achievement that India now has 2,967 tigers, declared the All India Tiger Estimation Report. Tigers have now become a topic of interest and issue all over the world. Their reducing number has triggered the government authorities to awaken and take observe. While the government is already taking projects to preserve the crazy pussy-cat, there is something that we as the typical public too have to do.

Hunting and killing of animals have become a form of recreation. Murdering humans is considered a crime. But killing and wiping out an entire genre is hardly given consideration. Like forests, wildlife is also a national resource which not only helps us in maintaining the ecological balance but is also beneficial from economic, recreational and aesthetic points of view.

It was a time when human interference was minimum and the number of wild animals was quite high and there was no problem with their protection or conservation. However, with the expansion of agriculture, settlement, industrial and other developmental activities and mainly due to the greed of man, the numbers of wild animals are gradually decreasing day by day. We must understand that wildlife is a precious gift God has given to this planet.

The term ‘wildlife’ not only caters to wild animals but also takes into account all undomesticated life forms including birds, insects, plants, fungi, and even microscopic organisms. For maintaining a healthy ecological balance on this earth, animals, plants and marine species are as important as humans. Hunting has tradition and the support of very powerful people on its side and with their influence hunting has been left untouched by legislation – the Protection of Animals Act only covers captive and domestic animals. High officials, who are supposed to be the guardians of law, often abuse their powers to shield the rich and powerful. Our country is unique in having a significant number of tigers in the wild, in spite of growing population and resource extraction pressures on their habitat. Tigers are the heritage of our country, evoked in the Vedas, Puranas, and many other kinds of literature for their unparalleled strength and aesthetic beauty.

The destruction of forest coverage by Maoists may be one of the reasons for this decrease. Deaths of wild animals were also reported from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Kerala, Karnataka, and Uttarakhand. No doubt, the World Wildlife Fund, an international agency, is doing commendable work in promoting the protection of wildlife and there is a number of national agencies engaged in the conservation of wildlife.

The population of big cats in the country has risen steadily since falling to its lowest-recorded figure of 1,411 in 2006. PM Modi has rightly said that “Some 15 years ago, there was serious concern about the decline in the population of tigers. It was a big challenge for us but with determination, we have achieved our goals.” A major threat to the tiger is the demand for its body parts. The forest and its wild denizens are an open treasury which cannot be locked up. It is painful to learn about trafficking of body parts of tigers and other big cats.

(The latter part of the Diary will continue tomorrow.)

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Varun and Sharaddha wrap up ‘Street Dancer 3D’

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Web Team

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July 31, 2019

The cast and crew along with the makers of the upcoming dance film Street Dancer 3D celebrated the wrap up of their shoot on Tuesday night. Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Nora Fatehi, Producers Bhushan Kumar, Divya Khosla Kumar, Lizelle D’Souza, and Director Remo D’Souza were present at the celebration.

‘Street Dancer 3D’ is produced by Bhushan Kumar, Divya Khosla Kumar, Krishan Kumar and Lizelle D’Souza and directed by Remo D’Souza; the movie is all set to release on January 24, 2020.

Why Unnao rape victim’s letter did not reach me: CJI Ranjan Gogoi

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Web Team

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July 31, 2019

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a report from its secretary general as to why a letter written by the Unnao rape victim to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, apprehending threat to her life, was not placed before him. The Supreme Court will hear a petition on the mishandling of the Unnao case on Thursday. A medical report of the victim’s condition will also be placed before the court.

“Unfortunately, the letter is yet to see the light of the day and yet the newspapers flashed it as if I have read the letter,” Justice Gogoi said.

The observations came when senior lawyer V Giri, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae in child rape cases, sought urgent listing of the Unnao rape case.

The court also asked the Uttar Pradesh authorities to file a status report by Thursday on the accident of the Unnao rape case victim.

The 19-year-old woman, who was allegedly raped two years ago by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar at his residence in Unnao, was critically injured in a car crash on Sunday. She was travelling with her family when their car was hit by a speeding truck in the northern state’s Rae Bareli district. Uttar Pradesh BJP has claimed that Sengar was suspended from the party in 2018.

Timeline of the case

June 4, 2017: A 17-year-old girl is raped by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar at his house in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao on pretext of helping her get a job.

June 11, 2017: The girl goes missing and her family members lodge a police complaint.

June 20, 2017: The girl is found in a village in Aurraiya from where she is brought back to Unnao.

June 22, 2017: The survivor alleges that the local police stopped her from naming the BJP MLA in her statement.

July 3, 2017: She moves to Delhi to her uncle’s place and alleges that she was harassed by the police. The girl’s family dispatches a letter to the Chief Minister demanding registration of an FIR against Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his brother Atul Singh.

February 24, 2018: The survivor’s mother moves the court demanding that names of Sengar and his brother be included in the FIR.

April 3, 2018: The girl’s father is brutally thrashed by the MLA’s brother, Atul Singh Sengar. A police complaint is filed after which, AK Singh, the father was sent to jail on April 4 in connection with an Arms Act case.

April 8, 2018: The case comes to light after the survivor and her family try to immolate herself outside Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s residence, alleging police inaction against the accused. The family alleged that the woman was raped by the MLA and his accomplices last year. The kin added that the family was thrashed after a complaint was filed with the police in this regard.

April 9, 2018: The father dies in judicial custody due to alleged police torture.

April 10, 2018: The MLA’s brother, Atul Singh Sengar, was arrested along with four others, by the UP Crime Branch, for allegedly thrashing the girl’s father. Atul was charged under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code.

April 11, 2018: The survivor was made to appear before Rajiv Krishan, Additional Director General of Police, Lucknow, who ordered a probe by the Lucknow police. Later, a special investigation team was formed to probe the alleged rape case as well as the custodial death of the father.

The Unnao police lodged three cases in the matter at the Makhi police station. Following a public uproar, the state government transferred the investigation to the CBI.

July 7, 2018: In its first chargesheet in the Unnao cases, the CBI charged five people, including Sengar’s brother of murdering the rape survivor’s father.

July 11, 2018: In the rape case, the agency filed a chargesheet against Sengar and Shashi Singh while in the case of the rape victim’s father’s death, the CBI filed a chargesheet against five people, including the MLA’s brother Jai Deep Singh.

July 13 2018: In the third case, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Sengar and nine others for allegedly hatching a conspiracy and implicating the rape survivor’s father in an Arms Act case. Three policemen, including Ashok Singh Bhaduria, then station officer of Makhi police station, were among those named in the chargesheet.

July 4, 2019: The uncle of the girl is convicted in a 19-year-old case of attempt to murder and sent to 10 years of imprisonment by a district court. The case was filed by Sengar’s brother, Atul Singh.

July 28, 2019: The rape survivor and her lawyer were critically injured and two of her aunts were killed when the car in which they were travelling collided with a truck in Gurubakshganj area of Rae Bareli. One of the deceased aunts was a key witness in the case.

July 29, 2019: A fresh FIR is lodged against BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar along with 29 others for criminal conspiracy to kill the survivor and eye-witness in a car accident.

Is India heading for One Nation, One Party?

By

Vaidehi Taman

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July 30, 2019

More than 50 MLAs of the Congress and the NCP are in touch with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and many of them already switched over ahead of the assembly elections which are due later this year. In more trouble for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), its senior leader and former minister Ganesh Naik joined BJP. Naik, who was NCP’s strongman in Navi Mumbai, had called a meeting of 52 MLAs at his residence. Although NCP’s Manda Mhatre joined BJP and won the assembly polls, Naik has a hold on Navi Mumbai Corporation for nearly two decades. Not only he but his family too resigned from NCP. The NCP corporators believe that joining BJP will help them win even the next corporation polls. Therefore, a sizable number of corporators including Mayor Sandeep Naik are likely to switch over to the BJP from the NCP.

Last week, Mumbai NCP chief Sachin Ahir joined Shiv Sena and party leader Chitra Kishor Wagh also resigned as the President of Nationalist Mahila Congress Maharashtra Pradesh. She also gave up the primary membership of the party. There are rumours that her husband had come under the ED scrutiny and because of that, she decided to get in BJP. All those NCP-Congress leaders, who joined BJP recently, are known for corruption and inappropriate wealth.

Well! Guessing the pressure, NCP chief Sharad Pawar has openly made a statement that those in power are using agencies like Enforcement Directorate (ED) for coercing the opposition leaders to join their fold. The ED is being used, just like what happened in Kolhapur (IT raid on Hasan Mushrif); they were asked to join BJP but they refused and later raid happened.

In the 2014 elections, the BJP had won 122 seats out of total 288 while the Shiv Sena won 63. The Congress and the NCP bagged 42 and 41 seats respectively. Whereas those who joined BJP from NCP and Congress contradicted Pawar and said that they joined BJP because they don’t see any hope or future in their parent party. The MLAs are requesting that they want to join the BJP ahead of the assembly elections. Congress is in the shambles and the NCP has become weaker. Pawar is levelling all sorts of allegations to cover up his own political failure.

BJP might not have threatened anyone or pressurised any leader but the fact is that Congress and NCP have nothing to offer its leaders. In Maharashtra, Shiv Sena and BJP are following each other’s footsteps and picking up everyone that is willing to join their camp. Sena-BJP has strengthened their all chances of coming back to power as there is no other party to defeat or compete with them in the near future.

Earlier, even West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee alleged that BJP was misusing the central agencies to pressure the opposition leaders to defect; Sharad Pawar accused the BJP of doing exactly the same in Maharashtra. He said that the BJP-led state government was using the independent agencies like the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), Enforcement Directorate (ED), and the CBI to browbeat the members of the opposition parties and engineer defection. BJP is forcing NCP leaders to shift their political loyalties by threatening them of legal action. These leaders had met Pawar before joining BJP but Pawar had nothing to offer them. He alleged the BJP leaders for forcing his party members to join their party or face probes. Wagh’s husband is under investigation. By invoking that case, she had been pressured to switch allegiance.

Meanwhile, the Congress party termed the raids of Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the properties of close associates of Robert Vadra as ‘dirty and malicious tricks’ of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that after facing imminent loss in all five states where assembly elections were held a few months back, the Modi government is back to its dirty tricks and malicious tactics. The tools being employed by the Modi government to hide its massive failures are mudslinging, muckraking, and hatchet jobs by the dirty tricks department — the CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] and the ED — to smear opposition leaders. Targeting the Modi government, Singhvi said that while all constitutional, legal, and administrative norms “are being thrown into a dustbin,” the central government organisations like CBI, ED and Income Tax Department are “acting as slaves and bonded labour” which are “dancing to the tune of” Prime Minister Modi. Meanwhile, another Congress leader and former Union Minister Kapil Sibal asked, ‘what kind of government is it, if law enforcement agencies start hooliganism, then who will question them? If they are supported by the Prime Minister, then who will question them? Where is the law and order in the country?’ Well, Sibal has completely forgotten that Congress has leadership crises and the party has no future ahead. When they were in power, the fate of the CBI was somewhat similar. That is the reason the CBI was termed as “Congress Bureau of Investigation”.

The monsoon session of Parliament was a litmus test for the durability and viability of a united opposition front to take on Modi’s BJP in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The BJP has already drawn blood with JD (U)’s Nitish Kumar breaking away from the fledgling 18-party opposition front to support the NDA candidate for President Ram Nath Kovind.

The popular sentiment that helped the BJP in the 2014 general election was resentment against corruption in public life. The party’s clarion call for a corruption-free India resonated with the electorate, who believed the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate when he pledged, “Na Khaunga, Na Khane Dunga (neither will I indulge in corruption, nor allow anyone else to indulge in it)”.

Ironically, we have seen consistent attacks on BJP and PM Modi for their stand on corruption in the last five years. Let’s see where the politics end and what new shape it takes; if the opposition leaders flood into BJP and alliance, the day will come soon when we can see “one nation, one party just like Russia”.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

Sharad Pawar’s NCP in turbulence

By

Suraj Chandran

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July 30, 2019

Nationalist Congress Party leader Ganesh Naik and his son NCP MLA Sandeep Naik along with 57 other corporators will join BJP. Ganesh Naik is an influential politician who controls Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation from last several years. NCP leader Sagar Naik had called a meeting of 57 corporators at his residence. In that meeting, a decision was taken to join BJP. Thus, many leaders from NCP have quit the party to join BJP. A few days back NCP Mumbai president Sachin Ahir had quit the party to join Shiv Sena. Many leaders quitting NCP to join BJP is seen as a huge setback for the party at a time when Maharashtra will witness assembly polls in October-November.

State NCP president Jayant Patil said, “The exit of the leaders from NCP will have an impact on the party. Many corporators have informed NCP leadership that they won’t quit the party. We will take stock of the situation. Even leaders from BJP are opposing the induction of leaders from opposition parties.“

“Naik going to BJP is a severe jolt to the NCP ahead of the assembly polls in Maharashtra. We feel that NCP should be merged with the parent Congress party to avoid further embarrassment,” said a senior NCP leader Anand Sutar.

The reports of Naik joining BJP have been surfacing since quite some time. Though NCP’s Manda Mhatre joined BJP and won the assembly election, Naik has a hold on Navi Mumbai corporation for nearly two decades. NCP corporators believe that joining BJP will help them to win the next corporation election. Therefore, a sizeable number of corporators including Sandeep Naik are switching over to BJP.

Political journalist Nilesh Khare said, “NCP has lost the control over the entire Navi Mumbai. It had lost control over north Raigad while the southern part is left with NCP due to the presence of Sunil Tatkare. Thus, they have lost a financially strong municipal corporation. The opposition has lost its relevance and no new leadership is emerging within NCP and Congress.”

On Sunday, senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan had claimed that atleast 50 MLAs of the Congress and NCP were in touch with the ruling party to switch over ahead of the assembly polls.

BJP MP Gopal Shetty said, “The exit of Ganesh Naik and Sandeep Naik will affect the NCP. India is heading towards ‘One Nation, One Party’ and the NCP and the Congress will cease to exist. The situation will become like after Independence era when only Congress party existed. In the same manner, only BJP will exist in new India.”

Few corporators from Thane and Navi Mumbai municipal corporation had met Sandeep Naik and asked him to join BJP. Four opposition Congress-NCP legislators in Maharashtra resigned from the State Assembly on Tuesday, amid talk of their joining the ruling BJP.

NCP MLAs Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale (Satara), Vaibhav Pichad (Akole) and Sandeep Naik (Airoli) and Congress MLA Kalidas Kolambkar (Naigaon) handed over their resignation letters separately to Speaker Haribhau Bagade at the state legislature building Vidhan Bhawan in south Mumbai.

“I am more interested in protecting the interest of my assembly constituency,” said Bhosale, whose cousin Udayanraje Bhosale is NCP MP from Satara. Vaibhav Pichad hails from Akole tehsil in Ahmednagar district and is the son of former NCP minister Madhukar Pichad.

Vaibhav’s assembly segment adjoins that of Balasaheb Thorat, the new state Congress president. Maharashtra BJP leaders have been harping that the party aims to win at least 220 of the total 288 Assembly seats along with allies. Kolambkar is a seven-term lawmaker from Mumbai, while Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale won the Satara seat in 2014 by 47,813 votes.

The four MLAs are likely to join the BJP on Wednesday, sources said. These would be the latest inductions in the BJP ahead of Maharashtra Assembly polls due in just over two months. Jaydutt Kshirsagar, NCP leader and former Maharashtra Minister, joined the Shiv Sena in May. Even NCP women’s wing president Chitra Wagh had tendered resignation from all posts.

BJP to nominate Ashwajit Gaikwad from Udgir constituency ?

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Web Team

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July 30, 2019

With an aim to give opportunities to the youth in the assembly, BJP is likely to induct Ashwajit Gaikwad into the party soon. Before the state goes for polls later this year, the saffron party is reportedly all set to nominate Gaikwad from the Udgir constituency.

Udgir or Udaygiri is a city with a municipal council in Latur district of Maharashtra. It is located in the Marathwada division of the state.

The Gaikwad family has been loyal to the BJP for many years and Gaikwad has recently implemented a membership registration campaign for the party at Shivaji Chowk on Saturday. The day-long campaign was attended by district president Nagnath Nidwade, former MLA and state vice president Govindrao Kendra, city president Basavaraj Bagwande, deputy president Sudhir Bhosale, water supply chairperson Manoj Pudale, Balaji Gaware of scheduled tribal front, and others. As per reports, the campaign has managed to gather more than 2,000 young party members so far.

BJP govt in Karnataka scraps ‘Tipu Jayanti” celebrations

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Web Team

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July 30, 2019

The BJP government in Karnataka on Tuesday cancelled the annual birth anniversary celebrations of the controversial 18th century ruler of the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom, Tipu Sultan, being organised since 2015.

The new B. S. Yeddyurappa government’s move through an order comes within three days after it came to power and a day after it won the confidence motion in the state assembly.

The Siddaramaiah led Congress government had started the celebration of Tipu Jayanti as an annual affair on November 10 since 2015 and it was continued by the Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy last year despite opposition from BJP and others.

According to the order, the decision was taken after Virajpet MLA K G Bopaiah wrote to Yeddyurappa requesting him to cancel Tipu Jayanti celebrations organised annually by the state Kannada and Culture Department, highlighting opposition to such celebrations, particularly in Kodagu district.

Kodagu district was marred by widespread protests and violence during the first official celebration in 2015, during which Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) worker Kuttappa had died.

BJP and right wing organisations had stiffly opposed, Tipu Jayanti celebrations, calling the ruler a “religious bigot”.

Downpour became nightmare for Mahalaxmi passengers

By

Web Team

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July 30, 2019

It was indeed like a nightmare for the passengers of Mahalaxmi Express to see a moribund situation in their surroundings after the train was stranded near Vangani in Thane district due to flooding on tracks following heavy rains. However, the teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Navy, Air Force, Army Railways and state administration brought all the passengers out of the awful trap.

Two military helicopters and six boats of NDRF were sent to rescue stranded people as the heavy downpour paralyzed the city and its surrounding areas.

The exemplary efforts of all the rescue teams are highly appreciated that they protected a big disaster to take place here in Mumbai just after the flood-hit severely Assam and Bihar leading excessive loss of lives and property.

Amongst the passengers were children including a one-month-old baby girl, women, nine of them pregnant, elders and disabled persons. Soon after the train stuck panicky starving and thirsty passengers were seen making appeals for help on mobile video and social media. In the videos, they said they had no drinking water or food for nearly 15 hours.

More so there was no way to get leave as the train was cut off with five to six feet water on all side. Also, railway warned the passengers against stepping out of the stranded train because of the dangerous water level outside and requested them to wait for help.

However, all the 1,050 passengers heaved a sigh of relief when they were evacuated off the train after an eight-hour rescue operation conducted by all rescue teams.

Though the Central Railway (CR) blamed ‘a sudden spell of intense rainfall’, coupled with overflowing of the Ulhas River, for Mahalaxmi getting stuck in overflowing water, here are some striking questions amidst of this hue and cry. Why was the train, with 1,052 people on board, permitted to travel on heavily-flooded tracks? Why did it take hours for the rescue operation to get the underway?

According to the report of Hindustan Times, some passengers complained they were unable to get any information from the Railway’s helplines and social accounts. One passenger said, “The train initially halted at Ambernath railway station for hours as there was waterlogging on the track. We saw commuters walking on the track. If this was the situation, the Railways should have been alerted before resuming the express train. How did they not realize about the water logging?”

I think there must be some action against the officials who are responsible to put more than 1,000 people in such ‘do or die’ situation. One cannot imagine how horrifically passengers have suffered around 15 hours with no water to drink and no food to eat.

What is the most appreciable in this fray are the efforts of rescue teams which made it possible to make all the passengers reach in a safe place! The government of Maharashtra and union ministry of state for home affairs should regard them and honor them for this noble task.

By Faheem Usmani Qasmi

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: 30 July, 2019

By

Web Team

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July 30, 2019

Motor man rescues youth

It is a matter of great relief that a motor man applied speed break to save a man from committing suicide. In a fast world such a sympathetic approach calls for appreciation. The Mankhurd- Vashi line is a sensitive area and more recently a motorman was hit by a stone and now a motorman saving a life goes well with his humility and displayed human consideration. We should honour the motorman who saved a precious life of a young man at an age of 18 and at the same time compensate the man, who got injured in an act of stone throwing. It is indeed a striking contrast of the two sides of an act of bravery and the suffering of a man doing public service.

Anandambal Subbu

Ragging is no reason for suicide

The death of Aniket Patil and Dr Payal Tadvi who both committed suicide in recent times after they were targeted by their own colleagues for racial discrimination speaks poorly of our education system. Institutes of learning should not be misused or abused in a manner that forces fellow human beings to end their lives.

Counselling at schools, colleges and post graduation courses is the need of the hour. Suicidal thoughts can be minimised if the mindset of people is made stronger by psychological learning. Penalties and penalization too would go a long way in reducing ragging that should have no place in our education system. Government should consider it a challenge to end ragging totally so that suicides cases never get heard in future.

S.N. Kabra

Pipeline burst responsible for T-2 terminal flooding

Adding to the disaster of monsoon rains, pipeline burst led to additional flooding inside T-2 terminal of the Mumbai airport, thus delaying nearly 400 flights. This is happening during monsoon season and no permanent solution is arrived in solving the problem. Again Navi Mumbai airport project is taking unduly long time. Further the proposed airport is also located in a marshy land and face similar problems as well. It is time to have a rational thinking and logistic approach in dealing with the airport issues. Already airlines industry is suffering and such delays in commercial capital add salt to the wound.

Akhilesh Krishnan

Right step by govt to bring Mother Dairy under RTI Act

It refers to reply in Parliament by government that it has advised National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to abide by CIC-decision April 15, 2011 upheld by single-bench of Delhi High Court by its order dated February 2, 2015 to bring Mother Dairy under RTI Act. Presently Mother Dairy has filed an appeal at Division Bench of Delhi High Court. Rather all NDDB subsidiaries should be covered under RTI Act. Most people and even public-authorities are unaware of the fact that NDDB has to provide information about its subsidiaries including Mother Dairy under section 2(f) of RTI Act with NDDB being the regulatory body for its subsidiaries.

Best is to put all Public-Private-Partnerships PPPs, sports-bodies, cooperative-societies and other such bodies affecting lives of millions to be directly under RTI Act to effectively check massive misuse of public-funds by their office-bearers. It is necessary because all such bodies approach High Courts to obtain ex-party stay-orders on CIC-verdicts declaring them under RTI Act. Retired Chief Information Commission RK Mathur in a CIC-verdict noted that Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) is not a public-authority under RTI Act even though four million candidates appear every year for examinations conducted by it.

Co-operative giant IFFCO through which annual fertiliser-subsidy of rupees thousands of crores is routed gifted prime-properties worth rupees hundreds of crores in New Delhi to its office-bearers with even Comptroller and Auditor General report pointing out massive irregularities in functioning of IFFCO.

BCCI challenged CIC-verdict ordering it as public-authority under RTI Act at Madras High Court despite Union Ministry of Sports supporting CIC-verdict in this respect. It is noteworthy that even Law Commission on being approached by central government subsequent to Supreme Court directions, opined in favour of BCCI to be under purview of RTI Act.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)