Tragic chaos

8226; Chennai was badly affected by the heavy rains for many days, the ensuing flood made the sit...

8226; Chennai was badly affected by the heavy rains for many days, the ensuing flood made the situation worse. People were facing hunger. Now the unfortunate stampede in a relief camp in Chennai has spread panic. The state government has announced an inquiry to find out the cause of the stampede. But will that be at all useful? The state and central governments should just make sure that the relief material is sufficient before distributing it to the needy, instead of instituting inquiries that go nowhere.

8212; Mohd. Mudassir Alam New Delhi

8226; The lethal stampede at Chennai following the miscommunication between the authorities and the flood victims only shows how ill-equipped relief personnel are for disaster management. Policemen should be given special training in disaster management, before induction into the force. It is intolerable that people should die because of human mismanagement after, ironically, they have survived the wrath of nature.

8212; Arjun Chaudhuri Kolkata

Homeless people

8226; Your editorial 8216;House that?8217; is right on target. Among the subjects that must be dealt with on priority basis, much more than the issue of whether or not Sourav finds place in the cricket team, is the plight of the residents who are being thrown out of the houses they have lived in for over 20 years in Delhi and Ulhasnagar, despite no wrong done by them.

8212; Kedarnath Aiyar Mumbai

Listen to all

8226; Apropos of Aruna Roy8217;s article in your series 8216;India Empowered8217; IE, December 19, I wish to express my dissent to her suggestion that only the deprived should be listened to. I do not consider myself to be 8220;deprived8221; but I would like her and others who share her view to at least consider my views on listening to the dissent of all, wherever it may come from. Democracy essentially means there will be no restriction on the freedom of expression of all. This freedom implies that everyone, not necessarily only the deprived, shall have the right to express their dissent over any popular views. If some one does not agree with such dissent, they too must be given a hearing.

8212; Sameer Kumar On e-mail

Tripura, now

8226; Congratulations for making public the secret report of Afzal Amanullah on Left 8216;rigging8217; in West Bengal IE, December 18. A similar report should be prepared for Tripura. Those of us who have spent some time in West Bengal always knew that the elections were rigged but had no proof.

8212; S.C.N. Jatar Pune

We knew it

8226; Your 8216;exclusive report8217; IE, December 18, on the EC8217;s report about rigging in West Bengal was startling, but not anything out of the blue. Because, of the simple fact that the CPM is the prime organiser of scientific rigging in Bengal and Tripura. It is an open secret. Can it happen without the active support of some
electoral officials? This corrupt practice has continued unabated for 30 years. It is more dangerous than the physical intimidation and booth-capturing that was practised in Bihar.

8212; Amit V. Sengupta Kolkata