Local officials of Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) were taken for a ride by a consumer in Kilpauk. The resident made 10 to 15 calls to the centralised call centre at ‘155333’ complaining of a power cut in his apartment. After a dressing down from senior officials, the local staff rushed to the spot only to find the power connection had been disconnected over non-payment of power bills.
A public inconvenience
The Chennai Corporation has started cracking down on persons who illegally collect money from users of public toilets. A number of persons have been arrested for collecting money. But another civic issue has surfaced now. Some local civic officials and councillors have started locking up toilets to avoid illegal collection of money.
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Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, during a web-based interactive session with students recently, artfully avoided commenting on ticklish issues. In the course of the interaction, a Bangalore-based student asked why the quota system in education could not be changed from a caste-based one to an economic status-based one. Instead of answering the question directly, Mr. Gandhi looked for student beneficiaries of reservation to respond. When it grew into a heated debate between the students, the event co-ordinator and Mr. Gandhi put the brakes on that line of questioning. A true politician, Mr. Gandhi signed off saying only more debates among stakeholders could transform the education system in the country.
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On February 15, passengers aboard Coromandel Express had to endure chaos created by unreserved commuters. The train was filled with unauthorised passengers, around 200 of them, in each compartment.
When a few passengers raised this issue with the ticket examiner, he said he was helpless. Railway officials said this was an everyday thing. Some passengers then wondered if the authorities were hand-in-glove with such commuters who crowded reserved compartments.
Carry the change?
Next time you board an MTC bus and are bored, it might be fun to merely keep track of the conductor, especially when he issues tickets. His arguments with passengers can be quite hilarious, such as the instance this reporter was witness to recently.
A passenger boarded a bus from a stop on Anna Salai in the evening. Since the ticket price was Rs. 11, he gave Rs. 20 to the conductor. The angry conductor asked the passenger to give him Rs. 10 and a rupee coin. “Why don’t you get into the bus with one-rupee coins? You think I am a coin-vending machine?” exclaimed the conductor.
(By R. Srikanth, Aloysius Xavier Lopez, V. Venkatasubramanian, T. Madhavan and Vivek Narayanan)