IE Briefs

Dr Shruti K Chawla,Chandigarh

No govt employee should be posted in home town

From the inefficiency of the police department,especially in the Khushpreet kidnap and murder case,it is clear that the policemen in Chandigarh do not rise to the duty assigned to them because the fear of transfer does not work for them. They know they cannot be posted out of the city in any case. A proposal is being made to get a nod from the Ministry of Home to transfer them to other union territories and bring mid-level police men from other UTs to Chandigarh as they are all from same UT cadre. I think the move should be made applicable to the UT employees of all other departments too. Many of these employees are running their family business here and developed self interests,which they put before official duties. No employee should be posted in their home town. If UT cadres are made open to all employees,their efficiency and results will improve.

R K GARG,CHANDIGARH

LPG shortage: Pilferage,hoarding should be checked

With the onset of winters,shortage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in tricity has become a matter of concern for the consumers who are made to wait for weeks together to get their gas cylinders refilled. Constantly busy phone lines of agencies continue to harass consumers. The demand for cooking gas cylinders increases manifold during winters as people resort to using cooking gas to operate geysers and run vehicles. The shortage can be checked if the Administration deals this with an iron hand. The government agencies should keep a check on pilferage and hoarding of LPG cylinders. Also,the companies should take into consideration the rise in number of consumers while calculating the supply base,and make prior arrangements in the season of shortage.

Vineet Kapoor,Panchkula

City of crimes

With the recent spurt in the incidents of crime,we can easily say the City Beautiful has become the “city of crimes”. While certain cases,such as the abduction and murder of five-year-old Khushpreet Singh and the high-profile Tanishq heist,get extensively reported,many remain under the carpet. For the last over a decade,there has been a phenomenal increase in drug trade in the city and so is the number of addicts,which is one of the root causes behind the increasing crime graph. Authorities have virtually failed to check this menace. Though there have been several instances where well-led police organisations have played a crucial role in preventing riots and checking law and order,unfortunately,police failure has also led to terrible breakdowns. The dismal presence of the police on city roads,particularly at night,has been reported umpteen number of times in newspapers but little has been done to improve the situation. There is a need to ensure that our police forces and criminal justice systems are responsible,sensitive caring and humane. There is also a need to reform the Indian police to overcome the colonial mindset and organisational pattern that it follows even to this day.

S K Khosla,Chandigarh

STET a welcome step

The decision of the UT education department to have a School Teachers Eligibility Test (STET) for those applying for a teaching post in city government schools is a welcome step (“New eligibility test for UT government teachers”,Chandigarh Newsline,January 15). This is in line with the Right to Education Act. Certainly,the teachers in government schools are not properly qualified in “teaching skills”. A child is not explained the subject matter clearly and even pronunciation of words are not properly taught. Stress should be on improving the quality of education in government schools. Apart from testing “the general and subject knowledge along with teaching skills”,the would-be teachers’ temperament levels should also be tested too. This is necessary to avoid corporal punishment to students. Though teachers may be annoyed with this system,it is necessary to improve the standard of education in government schools.

R K KAPOOR,Chandigarh