Ringside view

AMC needs ‘free’ thinking

October 2 is well-known as Gandhi Jayanti,the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation. But it is known much less as the birth anniversary of late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. While there are scores of Gandhi statues in the city,there is only one statue of Shastri,which is on the Kankaria Lake. But given the fact that entry to Kankaria is not free,it is less likely that unless the AMC eases norms and makes the access free to people on that day,the Shastri statue will remain prisoner to commercialisation of a public spot. Another statue,again of a late Prime Minister,Pandit Nehru,at the entrance of Balvatika will also be beyond the access of people for garlanding unless entry fee is exempted. Of course,the AMC might think of giving rest to jingles of its cash registers and makes entry free on Children’s Day –November 14.

Ban or no ban

THE Gujarat Government’s order banning expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s book on Jinnah,has already been quashed and set aside by the Special Bench of Gujarat High Court. However,during the hearing of the matter in the HC,when the ban was in effect,the book was very much present in the court room itself! Some people seated in the court had the book with them,but the covers were wrapped with newspapers so that no one could make out that it was the ‘banned’ book!

Blowing own trumpet

Attending a seminar on National Integrity at Nirma University of Science and Technology where students from various parts of the country had gathered for theme presentation,the generosity of not ‘boosting about myself’ dawned upon the audience. That was when one of the participants blurted out at the end of the seminar…’I don’t want to boast about myself but I am intelligent so I am here today presenting this theme.’ The theme by the way was ‘India in 2036’ where two individuals become successful in eradicating corruption and the national integrity is upheld forever.

Police gamble pays off

JUNAGADH: In the game of cat and mouse between the gamblers and the police,the former always outwitted the latter. Kutiyana town police,in spite of repeated efforts,failed to catch the gamblers who had set up their den on the outskirts of Paswari village near Kutiyana town. The reason: the gamblers had their own strategy to give the police a slip by managing to flee from the scene before the arrival of the raiding police force. But they resumed their gambling as soon as the police left the place. Finally,last week the police adopted a new strategy. Instead of wearing their uniforms,the raiding party in the garb of maldaris,in tow with a dozen buffaloes entered the village where a gambling session was on. Their strategy paid off as all the gamblers were apprehended. But the cat and mouse game still continues and the winner changes.

Green drive turns tax-payers red

VADODARA: It seems like the Vadodara Municipal Corporation needs to be gifted with myopic glasses. Years after spending crores of tax-payers’ money in constructing perfect dividers at VIP roads,the civic body suddenly realised that the dividers need to go green. Now,every morning,one would find people digging the concrete blocks at the dividers in order to plant saplings. While half the saplings have already wilted due to heat and lack of water,what lies in the area instead are stack of rubbles from broken concrete slabs. Can’t there be at least one person with better foresight to prevent VMC with its build-break- rebuild- and again break syndrome? The energy,planning and money can be at least used to

fill up the ever-increasing potholes instead.

–Contributed by Amrita Didyala,Debarati Basu,Parimal Dabhi,Sibte Husain Bukhari,and Tanvir Siddiqui