Letters to the EDITOR: Regular trains on Maynaguri-Jogighopa route

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Regular trains on Maynaguri-Jogighopa route

A big rail project between Lower Assam and North Bengal is the new Maynaguri- Jogighopa rail project. Though the work on the project was completed in 2022, no regular passenger trains have been introduced till now.  We need a local up-and-down passenger train on this completed route in the daytime, either from New Jalpaiguri or New Cooch Behar to Guwahati via Bilasipara Town station.

This is my humble request to the concerned high officials of the Northeast Frontier Railway and the concerned Members of Parliament in Assam to introduce new trains so that people of this backward region might avail themselves of the bliss of train journeys.

Sanjay Chakraborty

Barpeta Road.

From frying pan to fire

Sandeshkhali is a small village in the state of West Bengal, which is under the rule of TMC, a regional political party whose boss is Mamata Banerjee, popularly known as Didi. Mamata Banerjee has almost completed her second term in office after overthrowing the Leftists and promising the voters to make the state free from the Leftists’ misrule. But in reality, what is happening now? It was rather a change, something akin to, from the frying pan into the fire.

Didi, in order to be in power, started importing goons from across the border to terrorize the voters of the state into voting for TMC. Rape, murder, abduction, etc. almost became routine. The recent happening in Sandeshkhali, where goons of TMC unleashed a reign of terror on a particular community, is simply dreadful. I, as an Indian, shudder to think how a CM can be so ruthless, after being a lady herself, against women belonging to her rival political party.

It is an utter shame that the voters of West Bengal chose to remain mute to the atrocities being perpetrated. The earlier saying ‘What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow’ is no more applicable. I simply pity the voters of the state of West Bengal for their wrong choice.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury,

Guwahati.

Chilarai: Scholar General

Chilarai was not just a fighter, but also a great sponsor of art and literature. The Narayan brothers are the first foreign educated princes of Assam. They acquired knowledge in Varanasi which was likely to be abroad in sixteenth century medieval India. The literature that was created during the reign of King Narnarayan has flourished the entire Assam, including Barak valley originated in the western part of Assam and Kamrup. The sixteenth century poet famed for translating the Mahabharat was Ram Saraswati. King Narnarayan and general Chilara are the main personalities who encouraged Ram Saraswati to write literature. Poet Ramsaraswati expressed deep praise for Shukladhwaj alias Nara Narayan in his writings. Poet Saraswati described both brothers (Narayan and Chilarai) as persons of deep knowledge possessing great literary value. Expectedly they also engaged him for creative tasks of art and learning.

The people of India especially Assamese  will forever be indebted to Chilaray and Coach king Nara Narayan for protecting Sankerdev from adversity and providing a favorable platform of creative work with strong sponsorship. Therefore Saint Sankerdev thankfully mentioned the reference of Chilarai in different contexts. For example, the praise of Chilarai exists in various places of the play 'Rambijay' ("Param Rashik Guru Shri Shukladhwaj" or "Shri Shukladhwaj Nripati Pradhan). In one word, the patronage of arts and literature obtained from the Coach Empire builds the foundation of modern Assamese language and literature. The great hero Chilarai was at the forefront in this field. The war skills and wisdom of Chilarai are always propelled with art-passion. Such a personality is rare in world history. In the language of critic Dr. Satyendranath Sharma: "Such opposite bright side of personality is very rare.” This means Chilara is a world-personality. We should call for proper evaluation of time of life and work of Chilarai. The descendants of Chilarai and entire Assam people should energetically express themselves as carriers of Chilarai’s heroic blood. Modern globalized Assamese should be properly respectful to their national heritage. But there is no doubt that Cilarai's revaluation will inspire the nation to survive. On the auspicious occasion of Chilarai Day, I bow down to the great hero of the world.

Victory to Nara Narayan and Chilarai on Chilarai Day.

Arup Saikia

(arupsaikia07@gmail.com)

Parking issue

Through your esteemed daily, I would like to express my concern about the parking facility in the Healthcity hospital in Guwahati’s Khanapara.

On the first of this month, my son was admitted to Healthcity Hospital. I went to the hospital to visit my son. When I entered with the vehicle inside the hospital, the security guard said parking is not available, so you have to park your vehicle outside. Accordingly, it was parked outside the hospital.

When I was in the hospital, I suddenly got an SMS that a penalty of Rs 2000 was being imposed on my vehicle as it was in the wrong parking area.

Now, my question is why such a big hospital cannot provide parking to the patients that they have to park their vehicles outside. If you see the prevalent condition, patients are suffering from both sides. The hospital is more concerned with giving the parking space to doctors and their employees instead of the patients from whom they are earning their bread and butter.

Here, the big question is: how did they get permission to open a hospital without a proper parking facility. Patients coming to the hospital have to face the biggest problem of parking.

If patients’ attendants park their vehicles outside the hospital, then the police will impose a fine. Now who will take responsibility for this? So I would like to request that the hospital administration find a solution for the sake of the patients.

Samar Deb

(samardeb2016@gmail.com)