Letters To The Editor

Mumbai8217;s lifeline8226; LAST year the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai Municipal Corporation claimed that the dumping of plastic b...

Mumbai8217;s lifeline

8226; LAST year the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai Municipal Corporation claimed that the dumping of plastic bags is what caused the massive flooding in Mumbai. This year, we are waiting to hear their excuse. But I also want to request the Readers8217; Digest team to visit Mumbai now and realise how rude it was about the city. It was very heartening to see Mumbaikars helping each other in this hour of crisis. The BEST service is really the best. People could reach their homes because of these red buses, which majestically wade through the flood waters when all other modes of transport came to a standstill.

8212;Geraldine H., Mumbai

8226; THE saying 8216;once bitten twice shy8217; does not work when it comes to Mumbai. This year sees a repeat of last year. But most of the anxiety of the commuters could have been avoided or minimised if there were at least public announcements with respect to the status of trains. It is precisely in times like this that there must be continuous announcements. The chief minister and the head of the Bombay Municipal Corporation take pride that the city is near normal. Of course the general public should not panic, but these stalwarts too need to learn their lessons. It is mainly because of their lax attitude towards road repair work, to say nothing of the endemic corruption prevailing in the BMC, that the city is in its present sorry condition.

8212;C.R. Ramakrishnan, Mumbai

Failing state

8226; APROPOS of the report, 8216;Money lender MLA8230;8217; IE, July 4, it is shocking to know that the blood-sucking moneylenders of pre-independence, who charge an interest rate as high as 48 per cent per annum and employ goons to ensure recoveries, still exist. That the villain is an MLA enjoying the patronage of the CM is no surprise. What surprises me is the invisibility of the much talked about rural and co-operative banks, which are required to give soft farm loans? To whom are they lending money if not to the farmers? The media would be doing a great service to the nation if they could investigate each and every farmer suicide and tell us where the state has failed. Perhaps public opinion will usher a change in the system.

8212;Col M.M.P. Kala retd, Dehra Dun

Over to citizenry

8226; RAJENDRA Shankar Rao Kavadker of Chinchpur, Maharashtra, who has had the courage to file a complaint against the illegal moneylending shark a Congress MP supported by no less than the CM, who has been bleeding, threatening, intimidating and even torturing poor farmers physically and mentally, should be strongly and actively supported by all citizen8217;s groups fighting corruption IE, June 30 and July 2.

8212;Rozario Menezes , Vasco da Gama, Goa

Cure or lure?

8226; ILA PATNAIK8217;S article, 8216;End of distress8217; IE, July 1, has analysed the situation aptly. The food subsidy never reaches the needy. The PDS is a sieve and all the food allotted finds its way into the black market. The FCI is another white elephant which needs to be shut down and the godowns rented out to private parties. Subsidies should be spent, instead, on improving irrigation would improve things. Now about suicides. I am a business man, myself, if I am assured that my loans will be written off and my family will get a lump sum for starting life afresh, my family may be tempted to persuade me to take my life.

8212;V. Ramanathan, New Delhi