At Ahmedabad
It is disappointing that India lost in the final of the world cup. If India’s first order batsmen had been looking to build momentum instead of power strikes at the beginning, things would have been different. Irrespective of the result, both teams showed extraordinary sportsmanship.
Balagopal Gopinath,
Keerikkad, Alappuzha, Kerala
Bills and the Governor
While the provision for “withholding consent” was provided in the Constitution for the convenience of the State government, in case it desires to rethink a Bill after sending it to the Governor, Governors have been utilising the same for other reasons as well or to just deny assent (Page 1, November 19). The intriguing aspect is that the Governor has returned the Bills without mentioning any reasons. It is now a million-dollar question what happens next. This conundrum arising from the endless process of Bills going back and forth between government and Governor can only be resolved by having specific time limits on action by Governors on Bills and the consequent action to be taken on Bills after the Governor “withholds consent”.
Kosaraju Chandramouli,
Hyderabad
Projects in sensitive zones
While undertaking high-risk engineering works, the expertise of reputed and proven foreign experts and contractors should be sought. We should not forget that there have been instances of bridges across rivers and flyovers constructed by the public works department collapsing even before they were completed. Whatever happens in the next few days in Uttarkashi, the idea of constructing a tunnel or project in any ecologically sensitive area should not be entertained.
V. Lakshmanan,
Tirupur, Tamil Nadu
The region has already been subject to much disturbance. Has not there been enough digging, boring and deforestation? It is not wrong to think big and embark on ambitious projects, but they ought to be done in a way that does not result in disaster.
Manoharan Muthuswamy,
Chennai
Soil sinking, hills collapsing and tunnels giving up seem to be happening only in the vicinity of the Himalayan ranges. There needs to be a very stringent review of all types of mountain drilling, cutting and tunnelling works, and even construction and road laying works in the Himalayan ranges. Many European and North American nations have similar mountain zones but never seem to have the extreme incidents we seem to be experiencing.
P.V. Rao,
Secunderabad
