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| Many faces of friendliness |
The benevolent attitude of Calcutta Traffic Police has come to the fore in recent reports (Sergeants shine as saviours, June 13). Sergeants Prosenjit Chatterjee and Vinod Singh, by their deeds, have forced ordinary people to reconsider their prejudices about men in uniform. Let us hope that such exemplary behaviour is not an exception.
Chandan Ray,
Sakuntala Park.
A traffic sergeant helped in admitting a patient to a nursing home when the ambulance he was travelling in broke down, while another sergeant returned a bag containing valuable documents to its owner. It is heartening that Calcutta is witnessing a kind face of the cops.
Govinda Bakshi,
Budge Budge.
We should all learn from the traffic sergeant who took a hawker lying unconscious on the road to hospital (An officer and a gentleman, June 10). It is quite sad that many walked past, but did not help the hawker. The policeman followed his conscience, saving a life in the process.
Dinabandhu Mukherjee,
Budge Budge.
The administration should dispel fear among people about approaching the cops. There should be cooperation and trust between police and the public. I am delighted that some policemen have laid the foundation to this relationship through extraordinary humanitarian services. Kudos for highlighting their endeavours.
B.N. Bose,
Dum Dum Park.
Several instances of cops playing good samaritan have been reported in the past few months. The deeds, though praiseworthy, are expected from a policeman. Many ordinary people, too, would have pitched in if they were not put off by the prospect of legal hazards. I know from experience that indiscriminate use of violence by cops often engender doubts about them even in the minds of the innocent. Such behaviour is unpardonable. The government needs to rein in the force.
Sukumar Ghosh,
Mukundapur.
It is great that a children?s film called Bhoot Uncle is being made (June 13). It is a pity that Children Film Society produces films regularly, but most of them remain canned. This must be looked into immediately. In recent times, Makdee was an enjoyable and inspiring film.
Prantik Sanyal,
Howrah.
Death in wrong ward
Apropos the report ?Hospital assault?, June 6, the patient was suffering from hypertension and diabetes and died of associated complications. I could not help wondering why he was admitted to the School of Tropical Medicine in the first place. Tropical medicine deals with tropical and infectious diseases like dengue and AIDS. Probably, the medicine ward of Medical College and Hospital was full and hence, the patient had to be shifted to the School of Tropical Medicine.
Before boasting about its success in healthcare, can the Left Front government at least ensure that patients in Bengal get to die in the proper hospital ward?
Kunal Saha,
Ohio, USA.
Apropos the report ?Local lad was British ace pilot?, July 27, Fort William has confirmed that Indra Lal Roy was the only Indian to be awarded Distinguished Flying Cross in World War I.
Sourav Ganguly?s faith in the locket in this age of science beggars belief (Lucky locket lost and found, June 14).
Prahlad Agarwala,
Majdia, Nadia.
Point-counterpoint
Apropos the report ?Poor quality influx scripts JEE rethink?, July 22, the state government has not taken any decision to change the system of allowing candidates from other states to appear in the Bengal JEE. Describing successful candidates from other states as ?below-average students? can have serious repercussions. The performance of the candidates in the board exams is not taken into account while preparing the JEE merit list. We also have not received any complaint regarding adoption of unfair means in the examination halls. The BESU vice-chancellor and the JEE board chairman were neither summoned to discuss the matter, nor were they asked to conduct an inquiry. The state government encourages review of any examination system. This has nothing to do with this year?s JEE in particular.
S. Dasgupta,
Director of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal.
lMetro replies: Before the article was written, we had consulted Sajal Dasgupta and he had seemed genuinely concerned about the nature of complaints regarding the ?weak students? that were coming in and that, if proved correct, the new system could even be revised. In our article, he has been quoted as saying so. Nowhere in his rejoinder does he deny having said so. This simply reinforces the point that we have made.
Besides, we had verified all the information contained in our article with senior officials of the state JEE board, the central selection committee of the JEE board, teachers and officials of Jadavpur University, Bengal Engineering and Science University and also officials of the state higher education department. It was only when they corroborated it did we go ahead.
As for the meeting between N.R.Banerjea, the JEE board chairman and Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury, state higher education minister, both Dasgupta and Banerjea had confirmed that the meeting was held. It appears that Dasgupta is not comfortable with the word ?summoned? used in the article.
Also, nowhere in the article is it mentioned that all students from outside the state who qualified for the JEE were ?weak?.
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