Golden boy

Sir — It is heartening that The Telegraph considered Anshuman Panda worthy enough to be given space on its front page (“To MIT, minus silver spoon or TV”, May 6). Panda’s resilience in the face of adversity proves that there are many bright students, particularly from rural or suburban areas,who are determined to go the distance by overcoming the challenges posed by a severely handicapped education sector. Bengal’s unscrupulous politicians have politicized the education system, thereby directing it away from youth welfare.

Hopefully, Panda will make the most of this golden opportunity that he has acquired for himself and work towards a successful career in science.

Yours faithfully,
B.C. Majumdar, Calcutta

Sir — Anshuman Panda’s rags-to-riches story will inspire meritorious but underprivileged boys from Bengal as well as from other states. What Panda has achieved despite living in one of the most backward districts and coming from a needy family should encourage others to continue with higher education against all odds. Perhaps more of such news pieces would decrease the rate of drop-outs in the state. Now that Panda’s struggle has been made known, the government has sat up and offered him funds. Had the ministers shown a little more urgency in helping out under-privileged students like Panda, they would have done the state a great service.

Yours faithfully,
Ranjit Kumar Guha Roy, Durgapur

Bad start

Sir — Aircel was launched in Calcutta city amidst a lot of fan fare. The service provider brought with it a host of incredible offers, including one that stated that subscribers of Aircel will be able to call ‘any’ landline or mobile phone for an unlimited period of time by paying just Rs 246 every month. This, I thought, was too good to be true. Nonetheless, I decided to take an Aircel connection. My troubles started from the very first day. I have not been able to call most numbers, other than BSNL landlines and cell phones, that too occasionally, and after redialling time and again. Even Aircel numbers are hard to connect to. Worse, there seems to be temporary congestion on the network continually. Customer care officers do not bother to pick up the phone most of the time, and when they do, they spin the same old yarn: that they are aware of the problems and that the engineers are working to resolve the issue at the earliest. E-mails sent to the nodal officers went unanswered. It is sad to see Aircel tricking people into parting with their money for a service which they will never get.

Yours faithfully,
Kausik Basu, Calcutta

Sir — Aircel has failed to keep the promises that it made to consumers earlier. It is impossible to call any other network, except perhaps Tata Indicom or BSNL landlines, from an Aircel number. Even if one gets connected luckily, it is not possible to have a conversation for more than a minute. Neither the information and broadcasting ministry nor the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India seems to be aware of the problem. It is shocking to see a telecom service network being negligent of customer satisfaction in a competitive market.

Yours faithfully,
Saurik Ginoria, Calcutta

Wild world

Sir — The article, “Death on the tracks”(May 25), by Anusua Mukherjee should be brought to the attention of Indian Railways authorities. A large number of elephants have died on the railway track running between Siliguri and Alipurduar in North Bengal in recent years. However, it is not true, as Mukherjee says, that houses blocking the vision of the train drivers cause the accidents. Most of the mishaps take place deep within the forests. The deaths have increased in frequency, especially after metre gauge lines were converted to broad gauge.

In 2000, I had filed a public interest litigation on behalf of World Wide Fund for Nature against the Indian railways at the Calcutta high court to stop the switch of the then metre gauge line between Siliguri and Alipurduar to broad gauge. The judgment was passed in 2002, allowing the conversion while imposing certain restrictions on speed limits. Unfortunately, the railways have never cared to abide by the norms and trains continue to run at breakneck speed inside sanctuaries. If the railways do not cooperate, then not just elephants, but many other animals will soon be eliminated from North Bengal’s jungles.

Yours faithfully,
Shakti Ranjan Banerjee, Calcutta

Sir — Humans continue to encroach upon forests, pushing endangered species towards extinction. The report, “Exhaustion after forest chase kills mom elephant” (May 27), reveals how animals are ill-treated by men, even by forest officials who are supposed to protect them. The pregnant elephant died of exhaustion after being chased for nearly 45 minutes. The tragedy actually involves two deaths — that of the mother and a calf because the elephant was in an advanced stage of pregnancy. The manner in which the forest officers tried to drive the herd away must have frightened the elephants. Even a layman knows that animals tire fast if they are chased for a long time. The forest department ought to conduct training programmes from time to time so that its men know how to tackle wild animals.

Yours faithfully,
Priyanka Dutta, Calcutta