A pleasant surprise awaited the pensioners and family pensioners who went to the District Treasury at Thanjavur for signing their life certificate this April in the recently constructed new Collector's Office building/Treasury building. A spacious hall with chairs awaited them to assemble and wait comfortably. A form with serial number was issued to the pensioners on arrival which they had to fill up and wait for their turn. There was no heckling and the proceedings were orderly. The District Collector, Thanjavur, and the treasury officials deserve all our praise. Adequate city bus facilities to the new building from different parts of the city is the only need of the hour.
J. Eden Alexander,
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The BSNL Melacavery Exchange has been shifted to a new location. However, the subscribers were kept in the dark about this. This is nothing but negligence in service. On April 13, landline and broadband services in this area were dead. Landlines were restored but the broadband connections were not. For five days now, the area has been without its broadband connection. The divisional engineer in-charge of the area admitted that all consumers have been experiencing same difficulties and we have called experts to rectify the mistake in the board. Why did BSNL shift the exchange without consulting the experts in the first place? BSNL Kumbakonam should restore the broadband services immediately.
S. Anbalagan,
Kumbakonam
Take up dredging
Water is elixir of life. Drinking water scarcity prevails throughout India. Heat waves disturbed life. Groundwater level is going down day by day. Village panchayats must carry out dredging of ponds and lakes. This will help harvest the rainwater. Farm workers and machines may be utilised for this purpose under the MNREGA. I request authorities concerned to take steps to implement the process.
R. Sivakumar,
Poondi
Toll collection
Last week, I travelled to Chennai, Tirunelveli, and Bengaluru from Tiruchi by car and was shocked with the toll charges (due to recent revision). At most toll gates, single fee is from Rs. 60 to Rs. 83 and two way is from Rs. 100 to Rs. 180. The charges are already high considering that these toll collectors do not extend any service to the road user in any manner. When we pay road tax, then service tax and tax for every purchase and income tax, then why should we pay toll? I appeal to the government to review the rates reasonably.
G. Nallasiavn,
KailasapuramTiruchi
Refund charges
With effect from April 22, 2016, the Railways decided to charge full fare for children. For a Tiruchi - Chennai journey, a person with two children will have to spend Rs. 600 or more in sleeper class. If allotting a berth for a child can attract full fare, then the Railways should also refund the 50 per cent of the charges for Reservation Against Cancellation tickets as they charge full fare for RAC travellers.
C. Ramalingam,
Woraiyur, Tiruchi
IIT fees revision
The Union Human Resource Development ministry recently announced a steep fee hike in IITs. The sudden increase is expected to be effective from the next academic year. The parents who aspire to send their children to the premier institutions admit that it would make a huge dent on their finances. The full fee waiver should continue with the students belonging to the weaker sections and reserved categories, including OBC.
A. Haja Abdul Khader,
Adirampattinam