Rai Bahadur’s resignation

THE resignation letter of Rai Bahadur Milkhi Ram, Vice-President of the Lahore Municipal Committee, which we published in a recent issue, constitutes the strongest condemnation of the present municipal administration of Lahore. He was the solitary Hindu member who, as he himself puts it, continued to remain on the committee against the wishes of his community in the hope that his presence might be of use to the public and his community. In his letter, he says: “My experience of the working of the committee during the last two years has, however, entirely disappointed me. Matters have now reached such a pass that I feel I can do no good either to the public or the committee by continuing to remain on it.” The Rai Bahadur is not an impulsive young man, imbued with an excess of communal zeal. Nor does he lack moral courage to stand out against the wishes of his own community, if in his opinion such a course is expedient or desirable. When such a man, therefore, feels compelled to resign his membership of the municipality after continuously serving it in that capacity for 33 long years, it is time that the government should look into the affairs of the committee. The corruption, inefficiency and mismanagement which are alleged to exist in several departments of the municipality have become a veritable scandal; and the narrow communal outlook, which seeks to shelter the erring officials, has engulfed the entire municipal administration.