Friday, 06 December 2024 | Gajendra Singh Negi
Fatal STPs
The recent death of two Himalayan bears at Namami Gange sewage treatment plant (STP) at Gopeshwar in Chamoli district by electrocution has revived the horrifying memories of the Chamoli STP catastrophe of July 19 last year when 16 innocent people were electrocuted to death. The incident also highlighted that the authorities have not learnt any lesson from the Chamoli electrocution incident and the STPs are continuing to remain a major threat to humans and wild animals. It is clear that the dangerous concoction of corruption, negligence and apathy is at the root of the malfunctioning of the STPs of Namami Gange project. Interestingly, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has also expressed its concern on the poor quality of water being emanated by the STPs and their polluting effect on River Ganga. It is apparent that the Namami Gange, once considered to be the dream project of PM Narendra Modi has failed to get desired results even after 10 years of its launch and spending a whopping sum of Rs 40,000 crore.
Assembly facelift
With multi-crore reconstruction and renovation works nearing completion, the Vidhan Sabha building located in provisional State capital Dehradun is grabbing everyone’s eyeballs. The central hall of the assembly is also undergoing a facelift with the latest state of the art modern gadgets being installed on the tables of the legislators. On the entrance of the house, a glittering wall of valour showcasing the pictures of statehood movement martyrs is worth watching. However the pictures of two martyrs of the Khatima firing incident, Saleem Ahmed and Rampal are conspicuous by their absence. One hopes that these bravehearts will also find their due place on the honour roll of the Vidhan Sabha and the swanky new building will prompt the law makers and the government to improve their legislative performance and attendance in the house to effectively put forward the issues of the general public. This, in turn, is also likely to increase the number of annual sittings of the Vidhan Sabha of the Himalayan State which incidentally is among the lowest in the country.
Misplaced aggression
The unsavoury incident involving the Youth Congress workers and the journalists at police line ground in Dehradun has once again brought forth the follies of misplaced aggression and misunderstanding. In the video clips and pictures making rounds on the social media platforms, the president of State Congress Karan Mahara is seen seething in anger and moving forward menacingly towards the scribes gathered in the ground to play a cricket match. Though the regret expressed by Mahara on the incident has probably closed the chapter of bad blood between the Congress party and journalists, it has given a chance to the ruling BJP to browbeat the PCC president and it has linked the incident to the frustration of Congress generated due to loss in the high stake Kedarnath bypoll. Many sympathisers of the grand old party are pointing out that instead of engaging in such activities which end up in a volte face for the party, their young and enthusiastic State president should use his aggression and energy to attack the ruling BJP and rebuild the party in the State.
