letterstoeditor
SC DECISION ON TRIPLE TALAQ HISTORIC
The Supreme Court’s judgement on triple talaq declaring it as unconstitutional is historic since it will provide a huge relief to Muslim women. Triple talaq, a crime against women, was a blot on the democratic system of the country which provides equal rights to every citizen. The system had made women a saleable commodity. DP Gautam
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After the Supreme Court declared triple talaq as unconstitutional in its historic judgement, Indian Muslim women stand liberated from the evil that discriminated against them for centuries. In the Quran, there is no provision for triple talaq which was introduced by men later to suit their agenda. Muslim women should celebrate the occasion. All women are born equal and cannot be deprived of their basic rights by men under the cloak of religion. Now, the political class should enact a comprehensive law to protect interests of Muslim women. Col SK Aggarwal (retd),
Panchkula
MONSOON MISERY IN CHANDIGARH
Rain that lasted three hours created a flood-like situation in Chandigarh and its neighbouring Mohali and Panchkula. Several vehicles were stuck in traf- fic jams. One single downpour and and tricity was drowning. Police had altered the routes for public convenience but that was not of much help. If this is the condition of City Beautiful what we can say about other cities? The administration should work on making the drainage system more efficient.
Nitin Singh, Ambala
SGPC DEMAND FOR GST EXEMPTION LUDICROUS
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Kirpal Singh Badungar is making all-out efforts to secure GST exemptions for langars (community kitchens) is ludicrous at best. The SGPC, with an annual budget running into crores, runs a number of educational and medical institutions. Besides, hundreds of thousands of devotees visiting the Golden Temple donate crores every year. GST or no GST, the community kitchens will keep going. If the government accepts this demand, the government will end up opening up a Pandora’s Box where other religious institutions of other faiths will also demand the same. Wg Cdr JS Bhalla (retd),
Chandigarh
A MANMADE TRAGEDY
The derailment of the Puri-Haridwar Utkal Express in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday that claimed more than 20 lives exposes the sorry state of affairs
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of the Indian railways. This shows how the railways is unable to run a safe, dependable and comfortable system at a time when the government nursing ambitions to move bullet trains. Though the railways minister took quick action to fix responsibility, what purpose does such inquiry serve if we are not able to implement the Kakodar Committee recommendations? SK Khosla, Chandigarh The railways is plagued by chronic underinvestment. It has been five years since the Kakodkar committee recommendations on railway safety are gathering dust. They must switch over from the ICF design coaches to safer LHB design coaches and create a statutory, independent railway safety authority with powers to have a safety oversight on the railways’ operations. If these things were in place, the Utkal Express derailment could have been averted. It’s a wake-up call for the present regime to infuse substantial funds for the safety of passengers. Akash Kumar, Jagraon
NEED ACTION, NOT POLITICAL TOURISM
These days, it has become a trend for politicians to stay at Dalits’ houses and eat food with them. It is another matter that in most of the cases they come with their own beddings and food ordered from hotels of their own choice. If our leaders really want to alleviate the Dalits’ life, they need to do something on the ground and not resort to such gimmicks. Tarsem Singh, Hoshiarpur
STOP PUBLISHING WOMEN’S OBSCENE PICS
The HT, of late, has been publishing photographs of semi-clad actresses in its lifestyle section. The photograph of a Hollywood actress published on August 21 has crossed all the limits of decency. Women are already under attack and the promotion of their body by publishing their obscene photographs would further compound their problems. I request Hindustan Times to stop publishing such photographs that depict women as objects. Rajan Kapoor, Nakodar
STRAY CATTLE POSE THREAT TO COMMUTERS
Stray cattle are omnipresent on its roads of Hoshiarpur, also known as the ‘City of Saints’. They pose a big safety hazard on city roads. Along the choe, even pigs come on to the road and pose a risk to the lives of motorists, especially those on twowheelers. It is high time the local administration awakes from its slumber and does something in this regard.
Seema Garg, Hoshiarpur