Letters to The Editor: Pathetic road condition

Roughly a decade since I had been in this locality, the Pub Jyotinagar Road, Bamunimaidan, I could barely remember if I had witnessed this road to be so far removed from what we call an ideal road condition. This road connects to Dr Bhupen Hazarika Path, Guwahati Refinery Road. The road has not been repaired for many years now and it is only deteriorating. The condition of the road is deplorable with countless cracks and potholes, making the purpose of the road a failure. With the Indian Public School situated on this very road, this road poses a big risk to the students. Moreover, things get even worse during rains, when potholes are not visible and the area becomes extremely accident-prone. The residents are facing a lot of inconvenience. It has become a headache to travel on this road.

On behalf of the residents of the Pub Jyotinagar Road, I humbly request the authorities concerned to repair this road at the earliest.

Nandini Tamuli,

Cotton University.

Hindi's reincarnation

Now, the cat is out of the bag, and we have no difficulty in understanding the motives behind taking of the following steps by the State Government in recent times: removal of Assamese language paper from the APSC examination, up in arms against Assamese medium schools and discarding Assamese language in school's curriculum of the State. Last but not the least is that the State Government tried to understand the mood of the Assamese people by appointing a few non-Assamese teachers, from outside of Assam, in Assamese medium schools in remote villages. When there has been no visible sign of protest seen against it, the State Government has become doubly sure that out of 22,000 Hindi teachers that the Centre is mulling to send to North-East, most of which can be absorbed in Assam without any murmur. The Centre's policy of killing two birds with one stone will begin to sprout in Assam. Spreading of Hindi and as well creating job opportunity for the people from the Hindi belt are two objectives, despite having many well qualified unemployed Hindi graduates/master degree holders in Assam, which are eligible to become good Hindi teachers.

As a test case, the Centre has decided to make Hindi compulsory up to Class-X in the Northeastern States. Obviously, the Northeastern States are soft targets for all on all controversial issues under the sun. Out of eight States, Assam is the weakest of all so far the leadership is concerned to oppose the Centre's decision. The actual game plan of the Centre has come to the fore which is "one country, one language" at the cost of local languages of all the communities of the region. However, the Centre is definitely going to face tough challenges when they try to poke their nose in the South.

Prafulla Dowarah,

Guwahati.

Ground water recharge

We are all well aware of the alarming issue of scarcity of water in Guwahati. The deep groundwater is on the verge of being depleted completely, predominantly due to the unending construction of large apartment complexes where numerous borewells are being drilled. River water purification and rain water harvesting are two viable solutions that are currently in development, though neither has been thoroughly explored in Guwahati. The latter, that comes with great potential, should in my opinion be enforced in every large apartment in Guwahati with full effect. We receive a generous amount of rainfall every year, but it all goes through the roofs of the houses, to the ground, and then to the drains, with very little actually seeping into the ground. Even if rainwater is properly harvested in tanks and reservoirs, it can only be used for a few weeks at best. To solve the water crisis, we must look into ways to recharge Guwahati's ground water table. There are many methods of groundwater recharge, including recharge pits, recharge trenches, tube wells etc. The most reasonable strategy for Guwahati residents would be to recharge the groundwater through the already dried out borewells, which would easily connect the harvested water to the ground source. If in practice for a few years, we could possibly see groundwater levels rise. Large-scale initiatives can also be taken to properly filter drain water and allow it to seep into the ground. I urge Guwahati residents and the municipal authorities concerned to consider this solution seriously.

Kajol Singha,

Cotton University.

Leftist drama at JNU

Ram Navami is not just a festival for Hindus, it is a festival for every Bharatiya who feels the existence of Ram. On that special day, clashes broke out between two student groups at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus over alleged consumption of non-vegetarian food during Ram Navami. Several ABVP students were injured in the attack of the Left students' wing. A Divyang student at JNU said that Left-wing students did not spare him despite his requesting them repeatedly. He said, "I requested them not to beat me, but they did not listen." He was returning home after attending Puja at the Kaveri Hostel when he was attacked. After the incident, ABVP students led a protest march against the Left-backed students and demanded strict action against those who attacked them. A group of Left-wing students were caught on camera, pelting stones at ABVP members. SFI leader Harendra Sheshma was seen among those throwing stones actively. None of the ABVP students could survive their attack. Some Leftist national media houses have said that the clash started due to preventing the consumption of non-vegetarian food, but the Left-wing team seemed to be waiting for an opportunity. The ABVP, on the other hand, claimed that Left students tried desperately to disrupt the Ram Navami Puja. ABVP requested everyone at the JNU campus on Sunday not to eat non-vegetarian food on the occasion of Ram Navami. On this request, the Left hatched its conspiracy.

Immediately after the violent attack, the Leftist goons of the university moved to phase-two of their plan and started crying victimhood. They claimed that the ABVP did not allow the cooking of the non-vegetarian food in the Kaveri Hostel even though it was on the menu for the day. The ABVP national general secretary, Nidhi Tripathi, said that non-vegetarian food was cooked in all the JNU hostels as per schedule for eight days of Navratri, and no one protested, and on the ninth day, Leftists claimed there was a fight over non-vegetarian food. Such atrocities are carried out every year by Leftist student groups, who believe in blood revolution to sway those who do not believe in their ideals. An FIR has been registered by the Delhi Police against ABVP students based on the complaint of JNUSU, SFI, DSF and AISA under Sections 323, 341, 509, 506 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Partha Pratim Mazumder,

Nalbari – 781341.