Chaos regarding vaccine slot
Through this column of your esteemed daily, I would like to highlight the problem faced by the common people of the age group of 18-44 to register at Cowin, Umang App or Arogya Setu App for vaccination appointment against Coronavirus. People are facing problems while booking the slots as it begins after 4 pm and most of the time it doesn't. Nonetheless, it begins for a few minutes, but within 2-3 minute all the slots get booked and the minimum numbers of available slots are 5-10 in most of the centres.
I am also a victim of the situation. As the Government has made it compulsory for the 18-44 age group to register themselves on the Cowin portal and get an appointment for vaccination and officials declared that walk-ins will not be permitted initially to avoid 'chaos' at immunization centres once the inoculation drive opens up substantially. But in many centres, offline slot booking is also going on, about which still, many people are not aware.
The common people have become anxious because of these circumstances as they are not able to get the slots for their near and dear ones.
So, I request the authority to look into the matter seriously, because it's necessary to let the people know that both the online and offline booking is going on. Or they must take strict action against those centres.
Priyanka Deka,
Noonmati,Guwahati.
Israeli PM's thank
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked 25 nations through Twitter for supporting Israel in its right to counterattack Palestine by adopting a policy of offence in self-defence as its right. If Israel would not have adopted the policy of self-defence, perhaps the nation would not have been in existence. But India was not on the list of nations that were thanked by the Israeli Prime Minister for their timely support.
Israel should have been a role model where all political parties despite bitter-most political rivalry are always united in matters of defence and foreign affairs. Love and preparedness for the cause of the nation are taught there from childhood, and military training is compulsory for all irrespective of their political or economic status. Israel instead of shedding tears on national tragedies (like the killing of its Olympians) prefers taking revenge successfully which becomes a lesson for attackers. Israeli way of surveillance and defence-preparedness are worth appreciating.
Subhash Chandra Agrowal
Chandni Chowk, Delhi Accountability
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has recently directed the Water Resources Department to develop an accountability mechanism to ensure judicious utilization of public money. He also emphasizes quality work and timely completion of projects. This directive from the new CM indeed bears significance because in our state, Government projects are never completed in time and for that common people hardly get to know if anybody is made answerable. It seems responsibility is there but nobody is made accountable for failure. Unless there is accountability there is every possibility of delay or compromise in quality in the execution of projects. This is more prominent in the case of flood protection and embankment repairing schemes. Every year floods come but schemes never materialize in time for which people have to suffer miserably, besides affecting the economy of the state.
Samir Rajkhowa,
Bapuji Nagar, Jorhat-6
Need unity
The failure in our vaccine policy lies in complacency. Governments have failed the people as much as the people have failed themselves. Our carelessness and the selfishness of politicians have landed us here. This crisis has given us an opportunity. We either change our attitudes and system through actions or stay complacent and keep complaining forever. Let politics be forgotten and empathy takes its place.
Chandan Kumar Nath,
Sorbhog
On the same boat
There are striking similarities between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee as the former's state is devastated by the corona pandemic and the latter's one is ruined by post-poll violence. Both the Chief Ministers are finding the going getting tough to control the pandemic and violence and ultimately putting the entire blame on the Central government. Coincidentally, both of them have placed their party's priorities above the nation's interest. Indeed they are on the same boat.
Lanu Dutta Chowdhury,
Guwahati.
Create manpower for rehabilitation
It is welcome to note that the Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry has launched a 6-monthly Community Based Inclusive Development (CBID) Programme on rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities. This CBID course has been co-designed by the Rehabilitation Council of India and the University of Melbourne for cooperation in the disability sector. The program aims to create a pool of grassroots rehabilitation workers at the community level who can work alongside ASHA and Anganwadi workers to handle cross-disability issues and facilitate the inclusion of persons with disabilities in society. The programme provides competency-based knowledge and skills among these workers to enhance their ability to successfully discharge their duties. Initially, the programme will be available in English, Hindi, and 7 regional languages, namely, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, and Garo. This year, the classes for the first batch of about 600 students are expected to commence in August. Hope that the programme will create trained manpower in identifying risk cases, apprising the parents/guardians about the nearest early intervention centres, and guiding them for availing Government benefits for Persons with Disabilities.
Amit Singh Kushwaha,
Satna (M.P.)
Damaged embankments
Assam has had about 5,000 km of embankments along the Brahmaputra and its tributaries. Currently, numerous embankments in the state are in dilapidated conditions. Unless the damaged embankments are repaired soon, the state will suffer from floods during the coming rainy season. The flood causes a huge loss every year in Assam. The problem of flood and erosion in Assam is a serious one. The government should not neglect the problem of flood and erosion in the state.
Assam has already lost more than 7% of the land area of the state. Even then, the Assam government has deliberately neglected the problem of flood and erosion. As one knows, repairing works on the embankments in Assam should be completed before the arrival of the monsoon, viz., before May. Repairing the damaged embankments during the rainy season is like putting the cart before the horse. Never should the government take the problem of flood and erosion in Assam lightly.
Maheswar Deka,
Rangia