Letters

Adopt a school DNA’s report, ‘Adopted municipal school fights odds, sets example’ (Dec 26), augurs well in the present context of the Right of Education for all. More than anything else, the growth of the school will speak volumes for the efforts taken by members of Nagrik Satta Ward 63, a citizens’ association, which adopted the school in 2008, following which 180 students were enrolled. Now, the school has 500 students. Incidentally, this should be a wake-up call for citizens of other posh areas in Mumbai. Just imagine the effect this can have in the next five years. —PM Gopalan, Mumbai Last rally of the year Anna Hazare’s fast-cum-rally will take place on December 27 at the MMRDA Grounds, Bandra Kurla Complex. Like every citizen of our nation, even Anna wants transparency in government. But Team Anna is misleading our country because of which the Lokpal Bill is in limbo, with MPs on one side against the fast and the protest rallies and Team Anna on the other, fighting day and night for the bill. Then there are the common people in the middle. Team Anna also plans a jail bharo andolan on December 30. Anna’s last 12-day fast in August didn’t help in passing the Lokpal Bill. I wonder if this one will help. —Simrin Manwani, Mumbai II This refers to your report ‘Agent Anna is all people can talk of’ (Dec 26). The Congress party’s smear campaign led by Digvijay Singh is an attempt to divert attention from the main issue. By calling Anna an RSS agent, Digvijay Singh is deliberately trying to politicise the matter. Whether Anna has worked as Nanaji Deshmukh’s assistant in the past is not the question. The Congress must respond to the demands for a Lokpal which has been endorsed by the majority of the opposition parties and civil society representatives. Whether the demand comes from any political outfit or person should not matter. It is high time the government stopped playing hide-and-seek and addressed the issue of a strong legislation to check corruption without further delay. —Ashok Goswami, Mumbai III The Congress deserves to be complimented for calling Hazare’s agitation “an experiment with lies” (Dec 26) which it undoubtedly is, as against the Mahatma’s “experiments with truth”. Take, for instance, Hazare’s denial of the presence of volunteers from the Sangh Parivar manning some stalls at the Ramlila Grounds during his fast in August when Digivijay Singh commented on it, only to be confirmed unequivocally by the chief of the Sangh who said that they have always been involved in Hazare’s agitation. What takes the cake, however, is Hazare’s initial claim that his movement is non-political, which proved to be false with leaders from a few political parties sharing his dais at Jantar Mantar the other day, besides his wooing Mamata Didi to support him. —Dr V Subramanyan, Mumbai Pending railway projects I need to ask the railway authorities questions about all their pending projects. They have failed to deliver what they promised us over the years. What happened to the fast trains that would run on the Harbour line and the Panvel-Kurla, CBD-Belapur-Kurla and Vashi-Kurla locals? Why haven’t all the Navi Mumbai stations been painted? It has been over a decade and they are in such bad shape. Why haven’t the Navi Mumbai stations been extended in the stipulated period as promised? Why are there no ticket collectors or railway policemen at the Navi Mumbai platforms and in trains? —Fabain Edward Misquitta, Navi Mumbai II I am very happy to note that Central Railway is going to spend Rs4 crore on upgrading its stations (‘Rs4 crore mega plan to upgrade CR stations’ Dec 24). Thane station has immense historical importance and, as such, requires its due share. Mamata Banerjee re-evaluated its importance and gave several recommendations. But the project is still in the planning stage. What we urgently need is more ticket counters to avoid serpentine queues, another foot overbridge with escalator facility to avoid stampedes, facilities for the aged and those with special needs, more water coolers and toilets, more seating, lighting and fans on all platforms. The railways can stop issue of coupons and platform tickets from ticket counters by entrusting the task to book-stalls and telephone booths in the vicinity. —V Venkitasubramanian, Thane Mill occupation justified The remark made by the Bombay high court, when judges compared the protesters demanding an Ambedkar memorial with the 26/11 terrorists, is unfortunate. This is unjustified. Have the Indu Mill agitators occupied anyone’s mandir or private property or demolished a temple? Building Ambedkar’s memorial on Indu Mill land is a 20-year-old demand. Ambedkar followers demanded the land from the government as the land is owned by the central government. The government is not serious about allotting land, so the people went ahead and seized possession of it. —Sanjay Gaikwad, via email Is this growth? This refers to DNA’s comment piece titled, ‘India needs high GDP growth, not Lokpal’ (Dec 26). It was an interesting article. What India needs is good governance and reduction in corruption. GDP growth will follow. Bihar is a case in point. I have seen reverse migration of my community folks to Kutch, which surprisingly has better living conditions (24x7 power supply and potable water) than what Kalyan residents have. —Shailesh Chheda, Mumbai