Electricity crisis and water scarcity

The sufferings of the people due to daily and frequent electricity crisis and acute scarcity of water supply know no bounds. The people can not always live with promises and assurances of the authorities. It appears that the city of Dhaka with a population of over 1.4 million people has become the city of a few hundred rich persons including ministers, MPs, industrialists, businessmen and bureaucrats. They have become VIPs, EIPs and first class citizens of the country and the middle class and poor class people have become 2nd class and 3rd class citizens. If there is no electricity it does not matter for the rich people since they have installed electric generators or IPS in their offices and residences. If there is water shortage they ring WASA and immediately get special water from WASA lorries. What about the middle class and poor class city dwellers of Dhaka? They wait and wait for long hours in queues on roads for a bucket of water. There is no time schedule for the electricity supply and WASA as to when and at what time electricity and water would not be available. Why don't the electric supply department and WASA inform the people in advance as to when and at what time they would not get electricity and water? This would save the people from untold sufferings and wastage of time. All is well that ends in well. Would PBD Dhaka Electricity Supply and WASA be kind enough to be careful, dutiful, honest and sincere in the interest of public service as they are all drawing their pay and allowances from the public exchequer? OH Kabir Hare Street, Wari, Dhaka Efficient utilisation of resources What we need is not increased allocation of resources but the optimum and efficient utilisation of the available resources in each sector to create value and wealth. Government spending has increased over the years. A substantial part of the higher levels of spending have been sustained with risks by resorting to lending from the public and the banks. The debt servicing liabilities on these accounts are climbing fast. This makes the issue of optimum returns from public sector spending all the more significant. Strong criticisms have been voiced about the poor sectoral performance, despite higher amount of sectoral allocations of budgetary funds. Education, in particular, is presently enjoying a large share of the budget. But there are allegations that corruption, colossal in nature, is plaguing the education sector that makes added expenditures largely ineffective and a drain of resources. Similar allegations of corruption and misuse of resources are heard in other sectors as well. This heightens the need for governments to devise urgent ways and means for corruption-free utilisation of the taxpayers' money. Shamim Ahmed Gulshan, Dhaka Corporal punishment needs to end Corporal punishment has been banned by the government following a ruling of the High Court in January this year. Yet we find that some individuals and institutions are defying the ban and using the cane. It is an accepted view that corporal punishment of students, in the name of disciplining, causes different types of emotional problems that could lead to permanent psychological damage. There have even been instances of suicide, due to humiliation before the peers. Thus, not only is the young student affected; the whole family might bear the brunt. Some teachers and staff of schools still persist in the old-fashioned belief that if they spare the stick, the students won't obey them. That is very wrong, for what a friendly teacher can achieve, an ill-tempered teacher can only spoil. However unpleasant the circumstances might get, teachers and other staff should show maximum restraint. At no stage should they resort to hitting or causing bodily harm to students. It is time the authorities took steps to identify the schools where corporal punishment still exists. Steps should be taken to train teachers to help them understand and apply the right techniques to handle unruly students. Mohammad Jashim Uddin Dhaka E-mail:juctg2008@gmail.com