Mailbag

Recruitment of Vets

Sir,

A letter captioned ''PSC and Veterinarians'' appeared in your esteemed daily of dated 29-10-99. Professional ethics don't allow us to speak against each other but when professionals called as 'Doctors' practise such means it is required to tell them to revise ''Ethics and jurisprudence'', if forgotten.

The Public Service Commission, no doubt, advertised 179 posts last year but due to the meagre number of doctors (12 only) available, interview could not be conducted. The posts have again been advertised in July 1999. For the whole one and a half year none of the able doctors came forward to ask that why interview could not be conducted but when PSC itself cleared this point that the number of candidates is very very less against the number of posts advertised, some of the candidates labelled PSC as partial.

The able doctor has also lamented that it costs Rs 6 lacs to train a veterinarian and output is nill. I would like to add that not 6-lacs but it costs 8-10 lacs to the Govt exchequer to train a veterinary surgeon for over five years in the college and as far as output is concerned, any one who is curious to know must go through the research conducted by the veterinarian and applied in Human medicine like Artificial bone, graftings, Embryo Transfer Technology, Heart transplantation. Nothing is possible in medicine without the animals (Read it Lab. animals) and the veterinian. The production part is another chapter of the Govt of J&K is unable to provide infrastructure and utilize the services of Vets then none else is to be deplored.

As far as threat of court is concerned. Hon'ble court is for everybody and if such mistakes will be committed it would result into a chain reaction which may further delay the recruitment process.

Therefore, it will be in the fitness of the things and is just and genuine if all the available doctors are interviewed and recruited in near future so that atleast 15 percent of the advertised posts be filled and further no one is deliberately rendered unemployed when a large number of seats are availabe. This whole process can be completed within a period of four or five months.

It is clear that no one will be interviewed without PDC at that time.

Yours etc...
Dr Rana Sarfaraz Naseem
President
J&K Vety. House Surgeons Association

National calamity

Sir,

As the cyclone devoured more than 5000 of our fellow countrymen in Orissa, lacs have been rendered homeless and without food. In just a couple of days, we will be eating and distributing sweets, burning crackers and illuminating our homes on the eve of Diwali. But the situation would be different in Orissa. People there would be mourning over their relatives death and destruction. They woul have nothing to celebrate out. It is a national tragedy and it would be better if we share their grief by celebrating Diwali in a simple manner.

There would be no pomp and show. The money thus saved could be donated to PM's Relief Fund as was done during Kargil conflict.

This will not only promote religious harmony but also national integration.

Yours etc....
Adarsh Ajit
Ragunathpura,
Udhampur.

Power curtailment in J&K

Sir,

Welcome to the dark millennium. Our special thanks to dogged efforts of ''prominent citizens'', opinion makers, worthy & enlightened legislators, that power cutailment in the state has been increased w.e.f Ist November 99 from nine hours a day to 10 hours a day, with an additional bonus of three hours power cut once a week from 6 PM to 9 PM. This will not only add darkness in the life of citizens but, according to knowledgeable sources will also reduce the saving in power from 12 Lacs units per day to 6 Lacs units per day. Public can bear & understand power curtailment if sufficient power is not available in the Northern Grid but lack of resources & burgeoning losses despite raising of tariff manifolds in last one year cannot be palatable. As per records of the dept the increase in the revenue, thanks to Jammu, is only minimal, Chronic defaulters remain defaulters, only cloutless law abiding citizens have borne the brunt. High & mighty don't feel the pinch of power curtailment, which throws the normal life completely out of gear.

There is an urgent need to create a public opinion to which a popular daily like yours can be of great help, to impress upon authorities to realize the gravity & loss suffered in terms of man-hours & productivity to review the modified order. The present schedule is not only irrational but antipeople, anti business & retrograde as well on the following grounds.

* Powercut from 12.30 AM to 5 AM, even with street lights off, when the power consumption is least, is a bonanza for criminals & terrorists who can do their business with impunity & vanish under the cover of darkness.

* All administrative including business work in the govt offices outside secretariat will come to stand still from 9 AM to 1.30 PM as the modern tools of management & communication like computers, photocopying machines, typewriters & Fax machines will be rendered uselss.

* Once a week 3 hours cut from 6 PM to 9 PM cannot be ensured due to increased demand & reduced generation in coming winter months thereby making unschedule cuts & further misery inevitable.

Long term solution lies in increased power generation & privatization of power distribution till then we have to face it.

Yours etc...
K K Gupta
Gandhinagar Jammu.

Alliance, not Atal wave

Sir,

This is in reference to the letter ''Good Governance'' published in your esteemed paper dated 18th of October 1999 by P L Raina. He has mentioned that the grand success of the alliance is due to Atal wave. But the truth is that people have rejected the Atal wave as they (BJP) have got (-1.7 percent) votes which indicates that the people have not cared for Atal Wave. But the victory is due to alliance partners particularly by TDP and JD (U) have given a comfortable majority to the NDA Government reducing the chance of blackmail by smaller parties. Had it been an Atal wave then they should have shown good signs in state like UP. It was due to best party adjustment which gave them the majority otherwise if the Congress could have got the adjustment with parties like SP and BSP in UP, the towering personality would have been where Laloo is (out of power).

Yours etc...
K J Raina,
Mishriwalla Jammu.