MyVoice: Views of our readers 11th August 2020

Stop plundering environmental resources

The landslide in Idukki district in Kerala that seems to have claimed more than 25 human lives and many feared missing is not new to the country. Such repeated incidents should have prevailed upon the rulers to look into the cause and done something to prevent their recurrence.

In fact, Indian subcontinent is bestowed with rich natural resources covering the entire spread from the Himalayas to the Southern tip of the Western Ghats providing all provisions for a healthy living for all living beings. But the greedy capital has its spell on these resources plundering them for profits and endangering the very life and livelihood of all the living beings in the region.

The subsequent rulers have, under the guise of promoting employment, have recklessly allowed mindless plundering of these rich environmental resources further and further and the people are facing the untoward and unpleasant consequences. There is an apprehension that the situation may turn worse with the latest amendments made in environment related statutory provisions.

We may not be able to create icebergs of Himalayas or live rivers like Ganges or Indus or thick forests like Western Ghats, but we can and should at least allow them to survive to care our future generations.

This is not time to liberalise the destruction of forests but to be stricter in preserving them and handing them down safely to the future generations. Let us pass on a pleasing environment instead of a blazing earth.

A G Rajmohan, Anantapur, AP

Indifferent hotel staff must be held responsible for mishap

Apropos the news report '10 Covid patients die in AP mishap' (August 10), reading the facts of this case, it looks like that delay in reporting fire caused heavy casualties. Fire fighters took fifteen minutes to reach the venue which could have cut 30 crucial minutes delay.

It is simply callousness on the part of hotel staff to not report fire immediately. Hotel staff's negligence proved fatal for the hapless patients who had no clue that they were locked in fire chamber.

Now the onus is on the government to complete the probe and book the culprits. Hotel staff's propensity not to report fire immediately and handle themselves to avoid adverse publicity may be the only reason for delaying reporting. It was a criminal act.

Ashok Goswami, Mumbai

A chilling reminder of 2010 Mangalore plane crash

There are three tabletop airports in India from where scheduled flights operate. Calicut International Airport in Malappuram, India and Mangalore International Airport in Mangalore, and Lengpui airport in Mizoram are examples of tabletop runways.

Prima facie, the aircraft landed beyond the touchdown point and broke into two after crashing. It was indeed a chilling reminder of the 2010 Mangalore crash. At the time of landing on tabletop airports, you will have goose bumps.

It is highly risky during heavy rains. As a regular flier on this route I felt that landing on a tabletop airport is highly risky as the risk of missing the landing mark may lead to disaster.

Somehow, the third attempt for landing did not click on a wet runway and failure of break at a crucial time made the matter worse. Tabletop tragedy for the second time is a terrible one for the national airways.

Ramani Subbu Mani, Bangalore

Hike pay scale of medical staff

Importance of a decent remuneration in any job cannot be undermined. Though the nature of the medical profession is such, that concerns of remuneration take a backseat in general, yet with a vast difference of pay scales existing in public and private sector for the same posts is preventing medicos from joining public sector health institutions.

On the other hand, the government is taking vindictive measures by stopping all increments, DA, DR and IR for a period of one year. In addition, they are imposing hardships on promotions and bonus. Though the AP government has issued three notifications within a span of two weeks, doctors are reluctant to join duties.

The government has taken an insensitive and inhuman decision to cut the DA of its employees, pensioners, who are serving the public by fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. No doubt, the country has been passing through a financial crisis, but why should workers and employees be made the sacrificial item for the same.

After the cost of living has gone up, it is unfair to deny the compensation to the employees. This poor show is due to the lethargic attitude of the State government and district officials.

Most of the MBBS students passing out from private medical colleges, which charge over Rs 1 crore for the five-year course end up getting salaries less than Rs 50,000 a month when they complete their course and opt to join hospitals to begin practice. This should stop.

Dr M Suresh Babu, Vijayawada