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| Kapil Dev, who heads the executive board of the Indian Cricket League, at a news conference in Mumbai |
The latest shock the Assam Cricket Association has sustained with three of the key Ranji Trophy players of Assam signing contracts with the Indian Cricket League (ICL) is undoubtedly a great loss for cricket in Assam. The three young boys will be missing from action in the domestic circuit within the state as well as the national level in view of the Board of Control for Cricket in India barring ICL players from any activities related to it.
However, the same could have been easily avoided had there been a proper policy to counter the bait dangled in front of the players by the ICL. An offer of over Rs 15 lakh per annum is any day a lucrative one to an unemployed youngster to give a second thought. I hope the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) was never blind to the strategy adopted by the ICL. The state association could have easily introduced a contract system for at least the unemployed players to make them feel secure and that way make itself immune to the ICL onslaught. The ACA can still give a thought to it and ensure immunity from losing players.
Eistier Ahmed,
Jorhat
Being a corporate employee, I have worked in most of the capital cities across northern and eastern India during my 18 years of service. I have been using vehicles in almost all the cities as the daily means of conveyance till I landed in Guwahati in May 2007. I have been forced to use autorickshaws and other means of transport leaving my car back home because of the lack of parking space in most of the busy areas across the city.
My office is situated in Ulubari and I have to make rounds of several commercial outlets of my company everyday. However, a sudden exorbitant hike in parking fees in the parking lot under the Ulubari flyover has made it impossible for salaried people like me to use cars. These days I have started travelling by autorickshaws which are a pain in the neck as there is no uniformity in fare and neither do they have meters.
B.N. Mukherjee,
Guwahati
At a time when the government and civic authorities of Guwahati often talk of converting the city into Shanghai, the outbreak of diarrhoea and cholera claiming lives is unfortunate. It proves the failure of the government and the civic authorities to cater to even the basic necessity of pure drinking water in a city, which dreams to be a Utopia by 2025.
The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority and Guwahati Municipal Corporation have been reduced to nothing but revenue earning agencies for the government. Both the civic bodies should concentrate on providing pure drinking water and reduce air pollution rather than creating traffic snarls by building flyovers here and there for the sake of siphoning off funds in connivance with the Guwahati development department.
Dr M.K. Choudhury,
Guwahati