Raising a stink

Sir — Delhi is now safe, or so claim the police after they hung all the city’s garbage bins upside down to prevent terror strikes (“‘Dirty bomb’ effect in Delhi”, Sept 17). But what makes the cops think that the terrorists will plant bombs in the bins again, and not anywhere else, in the future? Now that the bins have been made unusable, the cops should be asked to rid Delhi of the stench and the garbage. Perhaps not, because if they start scanning the city for litter, they will miss out on the militants who seem to have the power to destroy lives any time they like.

Yours faithfully,
Aloke Pandit, New Delhi

Wrong number

Sir — There is room for improvement for Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited’s broadband connection. VSNL, which is now known as Tata Communications, has slashed its broadband rates and introduced different packages to make it popular. But the quality of the service offered is very poor. Although VSNL’s competitors offer broadband connectivity at higher rates, customers prefer them to VSNL for this reason. Hopefully, the company will try and improve its performance. Otherwise, in this competitive market, VSNL will lag behind its rivals.

Yours faithfully,
Nili Majumder, Kalyani, Nadia

Sir — Darjeeling is suffering on account of indifferent telecommunication service-providers (“Strike disrupt cellular service”, Sept 1). The recent strike by Reliance lead to a complete breakdown in communication services in the area. Consequently, loyal subscribers were made to suffer for no fault of theirs. If such strikes occur again in the future, Reliance customers will have little choice but to switch their loyalty to other service providers.

Yours faithfully,
Abhinay Prasad, Darjeeling

Sir — I had given my Airtel number to my friend for temporary use. After a few months, I applied for a fresh SIM card as I needed to revert to my old number. To my horror, the new card was deactivated within a few days.On enquiring, I was told that the same number was still being used by my ‘friend’, who informed me later that she had reactivated my old SIM card and transferred my number on her brother’s name without informing me. She also said that she had done all this without submitting any documents, such as an NOC, which are mandatory in cases of transfer. The illegal transfer of my own number, without my knowledge or any supporting documents, came as a bit of a shock. I have lodged a complaint with Airtel’s customer care, but no action has been taken thus far. The Airtel kiosk at City Centre, Salt Lake, refused to co-operate on this matter. Airtel may be a reputed company, but this incident shows that it cannot be trusted. Now, I have no choice but to approach the consumer court to seek redressal against the illegal conduct of Airtel.

Yours faithfully,
Ricky Poddar, Calcutta

Parting shot

Sir — Religious bigotry is almost endemic in India. As a Hindu, I deplore the violence that is committed in the name of religion. India is a land of great religious strife. Buddhism, which was born here, was driven out by Hindu orthodoxy to flourish elsewhere. Islam, which is seen by many as a militant faith, also has a following here. Christianity has given India some of its finest educational institutions as well as the saint-like Mother Teresa. But it is now being threatened by religious extremists. What we probably need is not preachers but doers such as Swami Vivekananda who can reform this divided society.

Yours faithfully,
Saroj Kumar Mehera, Calcutta