Spare schoolkids the burden of heavy bags

Spare schoolkids the burden of heavy bags
Apropos of the ‘Back pain weighs down schoolkids’, (April 24), it is not only children but also adults who find their wards’ school bags too heavy to carry. It is high time that someone starts taking action to protect our country’s young citizens from orthopaedic problems. DNA has always been in the forefront in starting campaigns. It should now start a campaign with the help of doctors, experts, parent-teacher associations to reduce the school bag burden.
—Ravi Pandya, Andheri

II
There is no need of workbooks and notebooks for the kids. It is sheer duplication of homework for them. Even at the end of the year, these books are not corrected by the class teachers and, if corrected, a spell check is never done since the number of students in a primary class are approximately above 70 in a private school. It is, therefore, requested that the workbooks should remain with the class teachers. This will also not tax the parents and the students will not unnecessarily carry heavy weights and suffer from back pain.
—SS Dandekar

Donations for schools
Apropos of ‘Schools seeking donation to be fined 10 times the amount they demand’ (April 24), the state government’s decision to charge huge penalty to schools demanding donations under RTE Act is a welcome move. However, in view of the fact that such schools hardly issue any receipt for donation, whether the Act will be useful to bring such errant schools to book, is a million dollar question.

Moreover, the parents, fearing of possible harassment of their wards by the school authority, will be obviously reluctant to reveal their identity. Under such a situation, it will be useful/prudent if the government moves a step further and plans to send ‘bogus parties’ seeking admission and catch such errant schools red handed.
—Kishorkumar J Ved, Borivli

Muslim gathering
On April 22, there was a gathering called by All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) at Azad Maidan. Lakhs of Muslims attended the gathering. The intention of the gathering was to ask the government to make amendments in some laws passed by our Constitution which are against the Shariat of Islam.

The titles of those laws included: 1. Right To Education 2. Direct Tax Code 3. Wakf Act 2010 and 4. Interference in Muslim Personal Law For Women. You are journalists and you know these things better than me. Your minimum attention to this news made me feel that you only publish what the government wants you to. It also makes me doubt the intentions of team Anna because when Anna Hazare stands against the government, he grabs the front page of your newspaper. You have lost all the respect I had for you.
—Usama Shahrukh

Save water
This  has reference to ‘Maha  water stock lowest in five years’ (April 24). The decreasing water levels in the four major dams in the city is a cause for concern. The builders engaged in the vertical expansion of Mumbai should be asked whether they would be able to provide the residents of their high rises with sufficient water. Even in posh suburbs like Juhu residents are facing severe water crisis and are forced to depend on tanker water. The middle Vaitarna dam project which was to be completed by March this year has been delayed.

This may hit water supply to the city. Had the middle Vaitarna project been completed on time, Mumbai would have got an additional water of 455 million litres daily. BMC has already sent warning signals that the city has water to last till July only. Should the monsoon fail us this year, the city is ill equipped to face the crisis. It is very essential that all housing societies start conserving water through water harvesting. Also, all leakages in pipes should be plugged. These timely measures could go a long way in conserving water. 
—Indira Satyanarayan
 
Arnala bandh
This has reference to ‘Villagers declare Arnala bandh on April 26’ (April 24). Arnala village is full of history and one of its kind on the Konkan seashore. Its port is of historical importance and there are many religious locations within the area.

The port is on the western belt of Vasai-Virar. When we locals do not get sufficient fish, what is the hurry of the government to catch fish for export? The government earns in crores and use the money for its own comfort. The national highway is about 18km from the port. To reach there, the government has to expand the existing roads or create new ones.

For this, hundreds of residential houses are required to be demolished. Furthermore, we live without electricity for nearly 6-7 hours a day and there is no potable water. We oppose this so-called modern port.
—Marcus Dabre, Vasai 

Sensational headline
It seems there is no limit to your penchant for sensational and sometimes stupid headlines. The headline ‘15-car plan behind CR fire mishap’ (April 24) would only convey the impression that to avoid such fire mishaps, the 15-car plan needs to be scrapped. Underground cables getting cut while digging is not unusual.

It is because of the alert Central Railway employees that the fire in one location was immediately put off. The dousing of the fire at the other location got delayed due to logistic reasons. The way the media played up the unfortunate event was not in good taste. The death of 3 persons “due to overcrowding” was highlighted to such an extent that it looked as if there are no track deaths on the railways on other days. The media should have concentrated more on the efforts of CR to rectify and restore the situation to normalcy.
—AG Ramasubramanian