MyVoice: Views of our readers 13thJanuary 2025

Lives lost as safety goes for a toss

Five youth died and two survived while taking selfies in Konda Pochammasagar reservoir near Hyderabad where they had gone for recreation. They totally ignored safety precautions. The youth must have thorough knowledge that such ventures often end in loss of life. Yet, they neglect them leaving pangs of pain to their parents. Elders’ advice is paid a deaf ear. They care less for elderly people when stepping into adulthood. Cell phones are causing a lot of miseries, too, when they are used for all unwanted and unnecessary purposes.

N Ramalakshmi, Secunderabad

TTD should end queue system for tokens

It is unfortunate that despite being in possession of modern technology, the TTD is still using the push-pull type of reservation system. Keeping 90 counters for 1,00,000 devotees means forcing 1,000 devotees at each counter. It was a tough task for the security staff to monitor all 90 counters. The TTD Board immediately shall get rid off those long queues and shift to 24x7 digital method of distributing tokens for darshanam. These tokens shall be distributed in a spacious hall in an organised way. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is requested to introduce darshanams only through the token number system.

Gudipati Shanti Priya, Hyderabad

***

The year ending 2024 had ended in a stampedal death in Sandhya theatre of Hyderabad for a movie benefit show and the year begining 2025 saw similar stamped deaths due to an uncontrollable and tremendous rush for obtaining tokens for ‘Vaikunta Dwara Darsan’ at one of the Tirupati outlets for issuing tokens. In both the cases, it is really shocking that the theatre management or the TTD administration failed to anticipate the quantum of rush that they may have to deal with. At the same time it is really more surprising that a gigantic organisation like the TTD with its vast experienced police personnel and other volunteers failed thoroughly and adopted a care free attitude.

Katuru Durga Prasad Rao, Hyderabad

TN CM Stalin goes back on OPS promise

The Tamil Nadu government has announced it will form a committee to study the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) announced by the Centre in 2024. It’s clear the state government is not willing to implement the old pension scheme (OPS) which has been the demand of the employees for a very long time. The government employees believed that the DMK government headed by Chief Minister M K Stalin would bring back the OPS which was in force till 31.3.2003. As many as five states started implementing the OPS. Though the DMK government had promised that the new pension scheme would be scrapped and the old scheme restored, it has failed to do so.

S Sankaranarayanan, Chennai

Govt shall monetise its PSU holdings

The ambition of transforming India into a “Viksit Bharat” by 2047 demands bold and innovative economic strategies. The recent proposal to create an “Amrit Kaal Fund”, inspired by Singapore’s GIC model, appears to be a highly promising approach to achieve the financial goals necessary for sustainable growth. By transferring PSU holdings in excess of 51% into this fund, the government can effectively leverage these assets to raise resources, reduce fiscal deficits, retire public debt, and improve India’s sovereign credit ratings. Listing the fund as an exchange-traded vehicle would allow domestic and international investors to participate in India’s growth story, thereby unlocking additional capital.

Vishal Mayur, Tumakuru

Poetic licence to be under focus

If a “Mere reference that a person(read woman) had a nice body structure”constitute a sexually coloured remark amounting to “an offence of sexual harassment” what is going to be the the fate of all our present romantic poets and their entire bogey of poetic expressions on the subject of a woman’ body in their literary works ? However, in case it suits her, all is well and fair enough. Otherwise, remedial course is resorted to. So, in the event, such references are of relative nature and not at all absolute.

Seshagiri Row Karry, Hyderabad