Men in ladies seats
Proportionately more seats are being reserved for ladies then men in public buses. At the moment enforcement of this provision is left to the commuters, which should be the duty of the conductor, who remains a silent spectator. A boisterous young girl was demanding that an elderly gentleman vacate the reserved seat. Another man at the back seat yielded his place to the girl, who refused it and insisted on the other seat, Just one stop to the destination, the girl succeeded in getting the seat, as some sort of victory of her rights. Liberated ladies are demanding equal rights and in some cases consider themselves as the weaker section. There are only two seats for senior citizens and senior ladies can also have access to these seats, The problem lies in rigorously checking overloading, which as a matter of fact is never enforced with fines by the traffic police, They turn a blind eye and concentrate on uniforms, unscheduled stops, sometimes permits and driving licences. Unless and until the overloading in mini buses is stopped, the uncomfortable situation to lady passengers will not be solved. The mini buses sometimes carry twice the number of standing passengers permitted. The regulation of departure schedule is never checked.
Nelson Lopes, Chinchinim
Paid to party
The popular narrative doing the rounds in the print and electronic media is that Vijay Mallya milked the banks for over Rs.9000 crores to support his hedonistic lifestyle much before the now defunct and grounded Kingfisher Airlines and flew off to the UK when the debt burden became excessive to evergreen his debts. Little is discussed on the national channels of his largesse doled out across the political spectrum for leading his flamboyant lifestyle. He is flaunting his Rajya Sabha MP status to circumvent his misdoings and seeking exemption from prosecution.
The banks were happy to lend him money with the tacit political and bureaucratic support without raising the red flag on the debts. Now as the debate is raging, a lot of skeletons are tumbling out of the government’s cupboards with regard to the huge losses incurred by the two public sector airlines Air India and Indian Airlines amounting to over Rs.43,000 crores which pales in insignificance to the measly amount of Rs.4000 crores losses of Kingfisher Airlines. Other willful corporate defaulters will also be caught in the web of financial malfeasance.
Money flows from our business houses to the full political spectrum including ulterior anti-state groups like the Naxalites and ULFA. But Mallya is serving one useful purpose by exposing the focus on how other industrialists fund their lavish lifestyles and have created empires overseas. The RBI is not blowing its whistle to stop this and the Department of Corporate Affairs is a silent spectator. The problem is that we are far too invested in this system. If the banks tighten the noose, as many as six of our top ten business houses will fold up or will have to be dismantled after restructuring as major business houses are over-leveraged and mortally indebted. Both the Congress and BJP are betting short on public memories.
Everette Assis Telles, Margao
