Protests uncalled for

The bandh calls given from time to time by various aggrieved political, social or religious groups not only bring day-to-day life to a complete standstill, but also cause harassment to commuters, shopkeepers, school, college students and people from different walks of life. The disruption in vehicular traffic due to bandh causes delay to those travelling in buses and private vehicles, ambulances carrying critically ill patients and students moving from or to their educational institutions. Even if the cause of protest is genuine, which most of the times is not, the protesting groups should see to it that the common people are spared of the avoidable harassment and suffering as they have nothing to do with the issues that spark off the protests. More often than not, the administration acts like a mute spectator when the protesters hold the entire city to ransom which rather encourages the menace. The authorities ought to evolve modalities for holding protest against genuine issues in such a manner that a handful of miscreants are not allowed to take law in their hands and pose a threat to the law and order situation.

Rain games

Though the rain brings a plethora of problems for city residents, who complaint of choked sewerage, broken roads, stagnant water and rise of mosquitoe bite cases, but on the other hand it brings a lot of pleasure too. Happiness is best expressed by children as they miss no opportunity to get drenched in the rain. After it stops, the youngsters can be seen racing their scooters or bikes through puddles. Two college students were spotted saving themselves from the splash after as they crossed their vehicles through one such puddle.

Avoiding media will serve no purpose!

There are a few ministers in the state cabinet who respond quickly to the queries of reporters, if any. You may call such ministers “media-savvy”, but they do respond to reporters quickly. On the contrary there are a few others, who just avoid talking to the media. You call the OSDs, personal secretaries, “good-friends” and acquaintances to get the version, but they never take the call. Recently, the Minister for Local Bodies had to be contacted for a version regarding a story and at least a dozen calls were made to contact him. The OSD asked the “question” for which an answer was required from the minister. Even after knowing the question, the minister refused to talk. The “elected representatives” must realise that avoiding the media will hardly serve any purpose and they must face public/media to share the facts as stories will never wait.

Contributed by Kuldip Bhatia, Mohit Khanna and Shivani Bhakoo