Letters to the editor

Gujarat’s benefit• This refers to your report, ‘Gujarat wants dam raised to 138 m, Modi meets CMs’, (IE, January 8). The...

Gujarat’s benefit

• This refers to your report, ‘Gujarat wants dam raised to 138 m, Modi meets CMs’, (IE, January 8). The prototype dam on the Narmada was conceived in 1963, 43 years ago, for irrigating crops in Gujarat. In 1979, it was converted into the multi-state and multi-purpose Narmada Valley Project for the optimum utilisation of resources, with Gujarat as a nodal point. Except for the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat, all the other major dams are located upstream in MP. In power generation, too, the lion’s share (1500 MW) goes to Maharashtra. Only if the height is raised to 138 m will the target be fully achieved. It goes to the credit of BJP MLA, Jayanarayan Vyas, to have convinced the Supreme Court in 2000 about the final height of 138 m — as long as the rehabilitation of the project affected persons (PAPs) in MP was addressed. In 2006, the Supreme Court delinked R&R of PAPs when the height was allowed to be raised from 110 m to 121.9 m, which was completed in June. Though a minor beneficiary of Narmada Valley Project, Gujarat is unnecessarily burdened with a “cost over-run of Rs 10,000 crore, besides inordinate and avoidable delays in time frame”, even when Gujarat and MP are ruled by the same BJP. How I wish Vyas again convinces the SC and the various authorities to give a green signal for the 138 m height, so that Gujarat benefits.

— M.S. Rajagopalan, Ahmedabad

Farewell to arms

• What kind of a system do we have? Sanjay Dutt faces a jail term just for keeping arms, but Abu Salem, proved guilty of active involvement in 1993 Mumbai blasts, will be ‘legally’ entitled to contest the assembly elections, again shockingly by the grace of India’s former prime minister, V.P. Singh! It little redounds to the credit of a democratic republic like India. Every Indian knows well that Salem has incited anti-India elements while Dutt only kept a firearm, which he neither used nor incited others to use.

— Hansraj Bhat, Mumbai

Caught in the Web

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• In the piece, ‘Securing the image’ (IE, January 5), Ranjana Kaul has done yeoman service to your readers by exposing an archaic Indian law concerning satellite imagery downloaded from the internet, which is not feasible to implement. Every Indian is required by law to get satellite maps cleared by the NRSA, the National Remote Sensing Agency. President APJ Abdul Kalam, a respected technologist and an internet buff himself, had earlier erred by suggesting that Google space maps available on the internet should be restrained, for security reasons, and senior government officials parroted the call, unaware that it was a technological impossibility in the age of the Web. However, last November, the president back-tracked and, while addressing the Cartographers Conference, urged the audience to make digital maps easily available to Indians on the internet to achieve what he calls India Vision 2020. His suggestion needs to be followed up by amending the law, otherwise all of us who are receiving digital maps from Google Earth and elsewhere are law-breakers.

— Cmde (retd) Ranjit B. Rai, New Delhi

Cricket questions

• Question for Indian cricket selectors. Ganguly was more consistent than Dravid in the South Africa tour. So will there now be politics over getting back Ganguly as a captain? Will we see another round of intrigue. Question for Greg Chappell. Is your record good? What would you have said about a coaching record like this if you were a commentator? Time for some introspection.

— S. Kamat Alto Betim, Goa

Police personnel seen to control the situation during a massive protest over the statehood demand and the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule, in Leh on Wednesday. (ANI Video Grab)

Statehood protest takes violent turn in Ladakh, BJP office set ablaze in Leh

India3 hr ago

Protests in Ladakh turned violent as students and youth organisations demanded statehood and Sixth Schedule status. Two elderly protesters fainted, prompting a shutdown call. A BJP office and security vehicle were set on fire. Activist Sonam Wangchuk urged for a peaceful approach. The demand for Sixth Schedule status is due to Ladakh's tribal-majority population and direct central administration.

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