NK's Post

Resentment against hike in bus fare mounting in Bhopal

Image
NK SINGH Though a Govt. directive has frustrated the earlier efforts of the MPSRTC to increase the city bus fares by as much as 300 per cent, the public resent even the 25 per cent hike. It is "totally unjust, uncalled for and arbitrary", this is the consensus that has emerged from an opinion conducted by "Commoner" among a cross-section of politicians, public men, trade union leaders, and last but not least, the common bus travelling public. However, a section of the people held, that an average passenger would not grudge a slight pinche in his pocket provided the MPSRTC toned up its services. But far from being satisfactory, the MPSRTC-run city bus service in the capital is an endless tale of woe. Hours of long waiting, over-crowding people clinging to window panes frequent breakdowns, age-old fleet of buses, unimaginative routes and the attitude of passengers one can be patient only when he is sure to get into the next bus are some of the ills plaguing the city b...

MP organises dances while world mourns Bhopal victims

NK SINGH

Bhopal: The day the world will be observing 'Bhopal Day', to mourn the dead on the 100th day of the worst industrial disaster in history, the Madhya Pradesh Government Culture Department will start a celebration of classical dances.

By a cruel coincidence, the State Government's Culture Department will organise its week-long Khajuraho festival of classical dances from March 12, the day the international environment groups, including the United Nations agencies, have decided to observe as Bhopal Day.

The Culture Department and ifs prestigious show-piece, Bharat Bhavan, the multi-arts complex at Bhopal, was the subject of a recent controversy because of its insensitivity towards the plight of the poor illiterate gas victims.

In a handout issued here on Saturday, the Madhya Pradesh Government has invited tourists from all over the world for the "most spectacular and exhilarating cultural experience of the year". Renowned dancers like Yamini Krishnamurti, Protima Bedi and Padma Subramanyam will participate in this seven-day "extravaganza of classical dance".

Ironically, the day the Khajuraho festival will be inaugurated by Yamini Krishnamurti, the Citizen's Relief and Rehabilitation Committee, set up three months ago to help the gas-hit people, will pay "homage to the gas victims" at the main gate of the Union Carbide Factory at Bhopal,

The committee, in a hand-out, has urged the people to observe Bhopal Day in their respective towns and villages to pay their respect to the 'martyrs'. Besides solidarity meetings in the shanty towns surrounding the Union Carbide Factory and a public meeting, a film on Bhopal disaster made by the avanti-garde filmmaker, Tapan Bose, will also be screened on the occasion.

Express news service

March 5,1985




Comments