A veil on statues

Sir ? A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has done well to refuse to attend ceremonies where he is required to unveil statues. The president?s stress on setting up institutions rather than statues for remembering personalities makes a lot of sense. For one, the installation of statues of dead political rulers by their acolytes can lead to a lot of trouble. Also, it is a waste of public money since rival politicians invariably remove them on coming to power. Look at how pictures of Atal Bihari Vajpayee were removed from the national highways on the directions of the Election Commission. There should be a complete ban on putting up photographs or installing statues of politicians.

Yours faithfully,
S.C. Agrawal, Dariba

Behind bars

Sir ? The extensive raids on jails in Bihar and the recovery of mobile phones and condoms are a testimony to the lawlessness in the state (?Law does what Laloo won?t?, Dec 9). It is obvious that criminals in Bihar regard jails as five-star hotels where they can get every comfort. Criminals are freely operating from jails and making extortion calls to doctors and businessman. There is no one to stop these criminals since most of them are patronized by the ruling parties. Stern action against jail officials, who are hand-in-glove with criminals, is necessary. But it will be interesting to see how Laloo Prasad Yadav lives down the slur on his party which holds power in the state.

Yours faithfully,
Shadab Ahsan, Gaya

Sir ? The Patna high court has exposed the Bihar government?s failure to maintain law and order. The governor should now recommend that the government be dismissed or address the criticism implicit in the court?s actions. His silence will only confirm allegations about the governor?s redundancy and of his being a rubber stamp of the Union home ministry.

Yours faithfully,
C.R. Bhattacharjee, Calcutta

Sir ? ?State of anarchy?, ?rampant lawlessness?, ?badlands?, ?failure of administrative machinery?, ?hub of gangsters? ? these are some of the expressions frequently used by the media to describe Bihar. Even the Election Commission has expressed concern over the goings-on in Laloo-land. And, yet, no one has suggested that president?s rule be imposed in Bihar. One fails to understand why. It seems our patience never runs out, however terrible be the situation around us.

Yours faithfully,
S.C. Kapoor, Noida

Parting shot

Sir ? For over four months, the telephone lines in the 2451 exchange of Calcutta Telephones (Parnasree Pally) have been afflicted with various kinds of mechanical faults. When the authorities of the local telephone exchange were approached, an excess load on the capacity of the exchange was cited as the problem. As a result of this overload, 2451 subscribers are facing a number of difficulties, such as one-way calls, non-reception at the caller?s end or vice versa, and mid-call disconnections.

When calls get terminated midway, it is often necessary to make multiple calls where a single call would have sufficed. The result is three or four times the normal telephone bill at the end of the month. Telephone lines in the exchange frequently go out of order, causing enormous trouble to several old and ailing individuals in the locality. Who is to be held responsible if, owing to such disorders, a doctor cannot be called in an emergency? If the telephone authorities fail to take up the matter, then the long-suffering residents of the locality will have no option but to seek the help of the consumers? forum.

Yours faithfully,
A.K. Dastidar, Calcutta