• This refers to Shekhar Gupta’s article ‘The lane permit quota raj’. The prevailing chaos on the BRT corridor is the hallmark of improper homework and imprudent planning, and that too without any public participation. Media reports indicate that the Delhi government is considering ‘other’ projects involving huge amounts of public money and time, as face-saving measures in the wake of the failure of the BRT project. The Delhi government should ideally emulate the DMRC in appraisal of

projects, astute planning and timely and precise execution.

— S.K. Gupta

Delhi

• The rabbit on Shekhar Gupta’s dissection table was luckier than Delhites because it did not survive to live with the mess on the table. People in positions of power invariably believe that they are the wisest. In the initial stages of the BRT planning, the government had been repeatedly warned of its flaws by those who knew better. However, those who wielded power were not prepared to accept such challenge to their wisdom. The media had propagated the fallacy too. Even in the BRT case, Sheila Dikshit’s sincerity is not in doubt. However, she was very wrongly advised. The government should admit its fault and dispose of the rabbit on the dissection table without pulling another one from its hat.

— S. Dayal

New Delhi

Timid at top

• Saubhik Chakrabarti’s ‘Baalu system’ was a sound analysis of the timidity of the Congress. By the many compromises it has made, the Congress has made the PM’s office toothless. This state of affairs would not have been a fait accompli but for the fact that the country’s premier investigating agency, the CBI, has become a plaything in the hands of our politicians, and the CVC is not taken seriously. If these two enjoyed real autonomy, Indian legislators would not have been rolling in wealth that is not at all legitimate. Besides, the DMK can also be put in its place right now, because it will not dare to pull down the UPA government. Nor for that matter can the Left afford to see the demise of the UPA. But will the Congress leadership show the necessary courage to stand up to the

... contd.