My letter to Hitavada on Stray Dog Menace .

The Editor / s,

Sir I started writing about the nuisance of stray dogs for publication in Citymail . 

However I felt I had to bring out the dangers and health hazards in details . Obviously it was not possible to stick to the normal length of city mail letter.

I feel even if it is too long ,  by publishing it you will be raising the awareness  of this menace and render a great public service.

PM Velankar . 

Stray Dog Menace .

All those who go for morning walk or use Nagpur roads / streets / side streets   will know what I am talking about. Every year , around this time people take up this matter with NMC directly or through public flora  . Every year NMC puts out very tall claims in controlling / reducing  stray dog menace. To prove their point very large numbers of dogs having been  neutered are quoted . Official web site of ASPCA has this to say about neutering . " While the traditional age for neutering is six to nine months, puppies as young as eight weeks old can be neutered as long as they’re healthy. Dogs can be neutered as adults as well, although there’s a slightly higher risk of post-operative complications in older dogs who are overweight. " . As all the vets would be aware of the limitations of age of dog it is very very difficult to believe the neutering figures put forward by NMC .However year by year increasing  number of stray dogs and puppies being born to stray dogs give lie to NMC claims . 

Killing stray dogs is not resorted to due to protests by pseudo intellectuals who also protest about killing of terrorists , dog lovers , Organisations like People for Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA ) , Society For Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ( SPCA ) and various well meaning as well as self serving NGOs.  

How the stray dogs are big nuisance , dangerous and health hazard ,

(1). Dog Poops all over.

Web site http://www.wikihow.com/Category:Dog-Grooming has this to say about dog poop. " Unsightly, smelly, a breeding medium for germs and disease, and a huge hassle on the sole of a shoe, dog poop is not a desirable feature in any neighborhood. Dog feces plays a significant role in water pollution, especially in cities, and the bacteria that makes its way into streams, lakes and the water table can make people sick. Indeed, a single gram of dog feces can contain 23 million fecal coliform bacteria that can cause cramps, diarrhea, intestinal disorders and kidney problems. In 1991, the EPA even designated dog poop as a "nonpoint source of pollution" putting it right up there with oil and toxic chemicals. "

 Early morning walkers , when it is still dark  , thanks to the state of street lights maintained by the sams NMC,  have often regretted inability to spot such dog poops.  Morning walkers who go out  when the light condition has improved have to hop around these . I agree that this hopping around adds to the exercise value of the walk but one mistake leaves you with feeling of revulsion and   disgust .Dog owners who take their pets for a walk will do great service to the society if example of Singapore & Western countries is followed of cleaning up after the pet .

(2) Urine Marking of territory . 

Stray dogs urinating all over is a common disgusting sight and a health hazard and nuisance . My car tyres have bore the brunt of being territory of large number of dogs. Of course large number of people also urinate all over but they are not marking territory .

(3) Chasing of intruder stray dogs from other localities and territory .

Mindless , furious and extremely fast chase by a pack of 10 to 15 dogs being given to any intruding dog  from other localities is a very common sight . The chasing pack in bent only on one thing and that is to catch the intruder before it leaves their territory . They are extremely dangerous to two wheeler traffic as they may confront a rider without any warning and leave no reaction time causing life threatening accident.. I have been witness to an accident where a senior citizen was knocked down by such a dog pack and suffered a  fracture injury. If the unfortunate dog is caught by the pack it is mercilessly and mindlessly attacked by the whole pack . If such a dog fight happens next to any one ,   one may suffer from serious dog bite. 

(4) Chasing Vehicles.

Some dogs for no reason whatsoever will suddenly start barking and chase a two wheeler or even a car . If the rider is taken by surprise and panics it may lead to serious accident..

(5) Night long barking . 

People have lost any number of sleep due to prolonged barking by the dogs . This may adversely affect their health .

(6) Diseased animals.

One often sees lots of stray dogs suffering from serious diseases , Fron puss running ulcers & sores to scruffy skin diseases , deformed legs , paralytic front or rear legs ets . Some may even turn rabid . All these are serious and dangerous source of infections & spread of sickness of serious nature . 

NMC has been totally ineffective in providing protection to the citizens of Nagpur from the danger and prevention of  Physical and health hazards in failing to  control the stray dog menace . Much tom tommed about Neutering programme  of NMC has been abysmal failure . 

NMC now must resort to KILLING these stray dogs by whatever means available at its disposal .

I fully realise that pseudo intellectuals , dogg lovers , do gooders  from People for Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA ) , Society For Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ( SPCA ) and various well meaning as well as self serving NGOs. will be up in arms against me for suggesting KILLING ,  I could have used "putting to sleep " instead of the word " Killing " a word which I have used deliberately to provoke public debate on this very important issue . Very large number of people will raise a hue & cry about killing of dogs , the very same people enjoy variety of poultry , meat , fish , and depending on religious beliefs Beef and Pork. The very same creatures WERE KILLED before they landed up as tasty dishes on their dining tables . So what are the grounds for opposing killing of stray dogs which are dangerous and pose serious health hazard . If all the  pseudo intellectuals , dogg lovers , do gooders  from People for Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA ) , Society For Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ( SPCA ) and various well meaning as well as self serving NGOs.do not permit killing they should ensure that Nagpur roads and streets are free from stray dogs . 

 

I am scared of our courts and never ending legal procedures hance can not build up courage to file a PIL on the subject.  I earnestly wish that those members of public / NGOs who are used to the workilgs of the courts file a PIL 

Best would be and that is my fervent wish , is  for the Honourable Courts to take Suo moto notice of this letter and and treat it as a PIL .

PM Velankar . 

Letter to Editor : UNBELIEVABLE !!

 The Hitvada news item 

 Quote " does not believe in handing out sops to minorities but will work to create a level playing field for them in in matters economic,educational and social "  Unquote.

Further on 

Quote " But the mantra is to be ' affirmative action ' and not 'sops ' Unquote .

The times have really changed .

 It is unbelievable that a Minister of Government of India has spoken these words .

 Even though all the right thinking people always believed in what the Minister has now said . The  vote bank politics never ever acknowledged this reality and no one in the Government had the guts to say so .

WELL! WELL!! WELL . The times have surely changed . 

P M Velankar 

Life is like that , It Happens , OR Whatever,

Life is like that , It Happens , OR Whatever,

60 lakh voters name deleted from voters list in Maharashtra .

Election Team Reaches out to lone voter in Gir .

MERA BHARAT MAHAN .

News analysis - sent to Hitavada.

( I started writing this on the evening when AAP won Delhi, As such it has now become out dated as a news  analysis .Nevertheless ,  facts and truth is everlasting !!!)

Congress Leadership in huddle to discuss reasons for the loss in recent Assembly Elections.Decides to introspect .

Rahul says we need to change the party 

Sonia says we need to review " what we did " or " what we did not do " .

What is it with congress leadership ?

They seem to be like actors in a play when , the " asides "  are heard / also seen by the whole of audience  but the actors do not see or hear any thing and so are supposed to remain ignorant of what is happening .

They seem to be like three monkeys of Gandhi .

They see no evil , speak no evil hear no evil . In this case they speak no bad about congress ,  these hear no bad about congress , these see no bad about congress party  .

 They do not see any thing  wrong with their party . 

The writing has been an the wall and message has been getting clearer and clearer for the last couple of Years . It is ironic that most of that writing was written by the congressmen themselves. It started with Suresh Kalmidi and CWG scam . Then there was 2 G scam , then the coal gate scam , then the Adarsh and irrigation scams in Maharashtra though scams at state level ,  still ruled by the same congress and NCP.  The scams kept tumbling out of the cupboard of congress led UPA government .

The public saw all about the scams and did not like it .

Still, what mattered most was not the scams by themselves but what caught and was noticed and noted by the public was, that in each and every case the govt tried to downplay the scope and the gravity of the scam .In fact the govt refused to accept that any wrong was done by the accused persons and strongly defended them . Those tactics were stopped only when accused persons position had become indefensible.

Congressmen did not see any thing wrong in it .The public saw and did not like it .

The Congressmen knew of how CBI investigations were remote controlled by the Govt . They saw saw it but believed others are fools and will not see any thing. But the public saw it . The Supreme Court saw it  and called CBI a caged parrot. The public witnessed it all and did not like it .

The public saw how all the relevant files containing evidence about the scam conveniently kept getting  lost and could not be traced . Maharashtra Govt claimed files related to irrigation department were burnt in accidental fire in Mantralaya . Files related to scams and solid evidence getting lost or destroyed in " accidental " fire was a fact which.The public did not like it.  

 They do not hear any thing  wrong about  the party . 

Onion prices touched ₹ 100 / Kg . Vegetables became costly . Inflation remained in double digits for ages with no sign of coming down . Public cried out in anguish . Congress leadership did not hear that anguished cry . As if to rub salt in injuries ,on the prices of onions ,  No less a person then the Union Agriculture Minister said there is no likelihood of onion prices coming down for 4-6 weeks for ......blah...... blah..... blah..........reasons.

The public did not like it . 

Anna Hazare gave a clarion call against corruption and enactment of strong Lokpal bill . congress heard but did not heed the call . On the contrary they ensured by hook or crook that the movement fizzled out and nothing was done about enactment of Lokpal bill 

People did not like it .

After SC order on convicted MPs and MLAs  UPA Govt led by congress introduced a bill and in an  added measure issued ordinance to ensure immediate relief to convicted MPs and MLAs . There was an out cry from public against such a protection being proposed . The congressmen did not hear it. It is a different matter that eventually this move was withdrawn.

The public did not like it. 

The reactions , actions ,responses of Ministers , spokesman for congress party after Pakistan returned the body of  Saurabh Kalia bearing clear indications of torture marks

  was not liked by the people .

The reactions , actions ,responses of Ministers , spokesman for congress party after Pakistan returned beheaded bodies of two Indian soldiers  

was not liked by the people .

The reactions , actions ,responses of the Government , the Ministers , spokesman for congress party ,after Pakistan soldiers attacked our troops and killed four of our jawans and our Defence Minister gave a statement that they were terrorists in army uniforms and later retracting the statement 

was not liked by the people .

The reactions , actions ,responses of the Government , the  Ministers , spokesman for congress party , after Pakistan  for almost more than a month , every day violated the cease fire agreement , shelled Indian positions and villages causing loss of life and property   was not liked by the people .

The reactions , actions ,responses of the Government , the Ministers , spokesman for congress party after Chinese troops intruded a kilometer and half in Indian territory , wrote " China" on rock surfaces before withdrawing was not liked by the people. 

The reactions , actions ,responses of the Government , the Ministers , spokesman for congress party after Chinese troops intruded moer than 14 KMs , established camp and remained within Indian territory before withdrawing

this was not liked by the people.  

They do not speak the truth about  the party or its leadership. Take for example Sharad Pawar ,now that he is almost certain that congress ship is going to sink , he boldly states that " strong leadership is required, public has rejected " weak " leaders . What was Mr Pawar doing all these years being a Cabinet Minister and kowtowing the policies of the same " weak " leaders .

 this was not liked by the people.

The truth was that there was total paralysis in decision making process by the Government . So much so that this truth made head lines even in foreign media .Congress led UPA government refused to acknowledge this truth .

this was not liked by the people.

The congress led Govenment machinery had gone to sleep . There was poor or no governance at all a thruth recognised even by foreign media and Governments.

this was not liked by the people.

The acts of commission , omission and simply no action at all  was not liked by the people.

Is it any wonder that the monkeys of Gandhaji were relegated to third Place .

Even bigger wonder is that Sonia Gandhi et all are trying to analyse reasons for the loss . 

PM Velankar

Earning Daily bread in India.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MY PHOTOS ?

THE PHOTOS SHOWED WORK BEING DONE WITHOUT SAFETY MEASURES. 

HAS SOME ONE REMOVED THEM DELIBERATELY ?

No safety belts ,

No helmets ,

No Safety precautions whatsoever.

May be no compensation either in case of a mishap or a drop ,

 That would be worst then " KA " dropping from the name of the building .

Added on 08 December 2013.

I saw this tower being erected during my morning walk on the 5th of this month .It was being built and I saw people working on it without any safety equipment or safety precautions. That is when I had taken two photos were put up on the blog  on the 5th and which have now been removed by some one.

What struck me most was that those involved in the erection work and working on the structure  at heights of more than 15 to 20 feet above the terrace level were working without helmets , safety ropes or apparently without any safety precautions whatsoever . It forcefully brought home the fact that by and large we by and large ignore safety precautions in our industry , take for example , welding and machining on lathes being done without eye protection , construction of multistory buildings by clambering on rickety bamboo structures , whitewashing of exteriors of multistory  building hanging on a rope ladders etc . One can go on with list of activities being carried out without regard to safety of workers .All this is done to save money , without realising the risk to the workers .

My intention in putting those pictures on the blog was to increase public awareness  about our negligent attitude to SAFETY .

The photos were not offensive at all so How can they be removed by by whom & for what reason. Apparently and logically only  company and / or contractor carrying out the job would remove them fearing penal action .

IS there any way we can find out and / or restore the photos .

Suggestions welcome .

Letter to Editor : THE MORNING AFTER SUNDAY MARKET / रविवार हाट

sir,

Some time back onions were selling for ₹ 100 a kg.

Around that time green vegetables , Spinach ( Methi & Palak) were selling around ₹ 50 per kg .

As per regular routine , we had our Sunday vegetables market on 01 Dec 13 .

At the start of the market around 1530 to 1600 h Spinach started at around ₹10 a bundle. By 1700 h it was selling at ₹ 5 a bundle . by winding up time it had come down to two bundles for  ₹ 5.

During my morning walk following scene greeted me .

THE MORNING AFTER SUNDAY  MARKET  /  रविवार हाट 

Lugging back the unsold vegetables was not considered worth  the trouble by the shopkeepers and Vegetables were just dumped at the market site. WHAT A WASTE .

As per the report submitted by Emerson Climate Technologies , Fruits , Vegetables and Grains worth ₹ 440,00 crores per year are wasted due to improper storage . Of this amount, contribution of Fruits and Vegetables is 133,00 crores. all this wastage  due to non availability of cold storage facilities .

 "Currently, India has 6,300 cold storage facilities unevenly spread across the country, with an installed capacity of 30.11 million metric tonnes. Studies have shown this is half the amount of cold storage facilities that India actually needs. Cold storage capacity for all food products in the country should be more than 61 million metric tonnes. In order to reach that target, the report says an investment of more than  ₹ 550 00 is needed by 2015-2016 just to keep up with growing fruit and vegetable production levels"(quote from Emersion Report.).

Food security scheme announced by Government covering 67% ( two thirds ) of our population is going to cost ₹125,000 crores . Every one KNOWS out of this ₹ 125,000 crores actual benefit reaching the starving population for which the scheme is launched may be , optimistically  , three forth. . Minimum of One forth of this amount , ₹ 31250 crores will find its way in pockets of corrupt politicians and Babus.

IF THE GOVERNMENT REDUCES THE SCOPE OF THIS FOOD SECURITY SCHEME JUST BY ONE FORTH ,  IT WILL MEAN SAVING OF ₹ 31250 CRORES . WITH THESE SAVINGS , WITHIN TWO YEARS, OUR COUNTRY WILL HAVE MORE THAN SUFFICIENT COLD STORAGE CAPACITY NOT ONLY FOR FRUITS & VEGETABLES BUT EVEN FOR GRAINS.THIS WILL PREVENT WASTAGE OF FOOD PRODUCTS WORTH ₹ 440,00 CRORES PER YEAR.

We may even be able to do away with food security scheme.

Why is it that such simple mathematics is not understood by our Politicians and Babus . To top it all our PM is supposed to be world renowned economist .

OR is it the TRUTH THAT POLITICIANS REALLY DO NOT WANT TO ERADICATE POVERTY . IF POVERTY IS ERADICATED THEY ARE DEPRIVED OF VOTE BANK POLITICS . 

If that was not so we would not witness scenes like 

THE MORNING AFTER SUNDAY  MARKET  /  रविवार हाट  

Yours sincerely,

PM Velankar