Paucity of pollution checking centres

Sir,

In our set up a spectrum of paradoxes happens here and there leading to total amazement of public to an extent of frustration most of the times, especially in J&K State where the law enforcing agencies most of the times make sudden and dramatic appearances and disappearances from the scene. The recent episode is the enforcement of mandatory acquisition of pollution under control certificate for all the vehicles being strictly enforced in Jammu and other cities. The order is excellent in it's contents and spirit but implementation in hurry simply makes it an instrument of public harassment because there are not sufficient number of pollution checking centres in and around Jammu city.

And till now , the traffic police authorities were hardly ever bothered to inspect the vehicles for the certificates not even from the most polluting commercial vehicles which often lead to an apparent black out on the roads with their emissions and were never challaned by the so called alert traffic cops ignoring any such offender. And now, all of a sudden the deadline was issued to all the vehicle owners to get the vehicle emission levels checked and certificates obtained by the fixed date. What a surprise that there are just 3-4 functional such centres in Jammu and the same city is among the most congested ones in India in terms of number of vehicles. As a result, there are always seen long chains of vehicles and their anxious drivers in the Q's running upto at least half a kilometer near the pollution checking centres. Everyone who ventures to go for this purpose has to spend hours in the waiting. Practically people have to take off from their work for at least half a day to fullfil this requirement which has become mandatory all of a sudden. Has anyone from among the policy makers thought how this sort of hurry and panic is going to affect the public life? If we count the total number of vehicles in Jammu, then the same number of people have to spend nearly half day each like this and the total man days lost will be nearly the same- approximately more than 3 lac with drammatic effect on the economy too.

Once the required infrastructure is not available sufficiently the enforcement of such rules in such a short period is a Hereculean task and instead of helping the people it is more of a nuisance value and can simply promote corruption and harassment of any vehicle owner at the hands of the traffic cops. A better option would have been to see the practice in the states /cities already enforcing this rule. For example, in Delhi the traffic police authorities advertise in the newspapers the registration number series of vehicles to be checked in respect of pollution and the deadlines given for the same. I think the same practice could have been followed in our city also and henceforth made a routine practice, as this if followed seriously, will remain a regular feature for the years to come. Let the authoritiies at the helm of affairs take a serious view of the problem and come out with convenient options which in my opinion are many at any given point of time.

Yours etc...
(Dr) Rakesh Bahl
283 Narwal Pain,
Satwari Jammu

MPs on sale

I

Sir,

The recent news in respect of eleven members of Parliament (Lok & Rajya Sabhas) is not only shameful but shocking as well because it has virtually degenerated the democratic system itself.

Prime-facie, all the MPs appear to be guilty. Since their explanations are yet to be considered by the Parliament nothing can be concluded about the sting-operation launched by the fictitious Nisma.

I think that the honest parliament members while considering the explanations of their colleagues should not ignore the following aspects:-

(i) Confiscation of the money involved in the alleged sting operation and

(ii) Payment of some reward to all the media-gentlemen who conducted the above nine months exercise. Perhaps, they deserve the repayment of the money to be confiscated. By not doing so, the honest parliamentarians must remember that the honest people are already fed-up of the existing democratic set up and no good persons shall tread the truthful path in the future. How can we forget the media persons who covered the famous Tehelka?

Yours etc...
P S Sahi
Colonel's Colony
Airport Road
Jammu

II

Sir,

The VIPs accused of corruption and scams should be given exemplary punishment within one week of detection of their crimes. Otherwise the talk about anti corruption drives and so called cleansing of administration is a futile exercice in academics.

Yours etc...
R K Pandit
Jammu