Barricades or ??

A casual glance through the local newspapers just tempt me to have a dig at the happenings around us.. however, I’ll try not to be too hard. Ok?

The word of caution first. Of late we, Coimbatoreans, have been seeing a lot of barricades being placed on the roads at vantage points, like road crossings, schools, dangerous turnings etc. Quite a commendable job by the Corporation actually, but had these barricades erected featured some of the warnings with the use of reflective stickers, they would have served the purpose more effectively during the late hours too. And thus would have not attracted the wrath of the public (in some cases) and that of the press. The reason the press has taken up the issue is that some of these barricades pose a threat to motorists where the road lighting is poor (or the road/street lights do not exist completely for that matter), and in the few cases of accidents caused by these road barricades, in the night, - the reason is that those citizens have come riding on the road under the influence of alcohol. So, there is no point in blaming the road barricades alone, or the poor street lighting in some places as reason for the accidents. We, the citizens have to take an effort not to drive motor vehicles after consuming liquor.

Liquor, Man - the connection?

Now, now, now, I really have got to share something that I came across in the Business Line, dated the 20th July, 2006 which makes interesting reading. It goes like this:

Persons who give up liquor habit in Madhya Pradesh may soon receive rewards of Rs.1000/- each, but if they take to the bottle again, then five times the amount would be recovered from them! The recommendation was made at a Cabinet Committee meeting for determining the excise policy chaired by Commercial Tax Minister, Shri. Babulal Gaur here. Among those present were committee members including Finance Minister Shri. Raghavji, Tribal Welfare Minister Shri. Vijay Shah and Public Health Engineering Minister Shri Rampal Singh, besides Principal Secretary Shri G.P. Singhal and Commissioner (Excise) T. Dharmarao. In the first stage, village panchayats would recommend five names each for this award.

- Courtesy, Business Line, 20th July, 2006.