Some lingering doubts....

I've been following the spate of news that seem to fill both, the air and the columns. And I've begun to wonder as to whether the numerous doubts that have cluttered my mind regarding them are genuine or whether they're the product of an information overkill when the actuals start getting fuzzy in the wake of continuous reportage. Let me try to list them out:-

 (a) The SNC Lavalin case.

      Pinarayi Vijayan, the CPM's state secretary and his cronies have been claiming it as their leader's

      exoneration when the CBI special court had given its verdict to the effect that Vijayan and the 

      bureaucrats could be delinked due to some technicalities. It's another matter that the Canadian 

      company, Lavalin is yet to respond to the chargesheet till date. So, in other words the legal battle

      against the company will continue.

      And this peculiar decision is being tom-tommed as the leader's moral victory and proof of his

      innocence!

      The consequential questions that arise are:-

                 (i) the loss of Rs. 345 crores to the state's exchequer is only attributable to the company?

                (ii) the whereabouts of Rs. 100 crores to be paid to the cancer research institute at Kannur.

               (iii) if everyone from the Indian side, who'd negotiated the deal, is clean then how is it that the

                     CAG has found gaping discrepancies? Now, don't tell me that it's out of personal vendetta

                     or witch-hunt?

  (b) The PM's dilemma.

        The Indian Prime Minister seems to be in a dilemma. To attend or not to attend the Commonwealth

        Heads of Government Meeting at Colombo is the bugbear. The political matrix of Tamilnadu has put

        the spanner in the works.

        My queries essentially are as follows:-

                  (i) Shouldn't the Sri Lankan government's treatment of their Tamil population be brought

                      to the fore when 58 other countries of the world are participating?

                 (ii) With the international spotlight on the meet, wouldn't we be botching up our chances if

                      we pass off this golden opportunity to prevail upon the other countries to push for a positive

                      response from the Sri Lankans?

   (c) Frequent power disruptions.

        It's getting to be curiouser and curiouser. The generators of the Moolamattam power house seem to

        be going out of order a bit to frequently. The latest incident when the power supply has been affected

        is due to the burning away of a 220 kv powerline of a connected transformer. The Kerala State 

        Electricity Board and the Government need to ask themselves the following:-

                    (i) What's the reason for the high rate of failures of this powerhouse?

                   (ii) Weren't the the generators overhauled recently? So, why should these breakdowns take

                        place at all?

                   (iii) Aren't preventive maintenance being carried out as per their schedules?

                   (iv) Are the spares that are being used not upto the standards?

Tailpiece.

As a citizen, these queries bug me. No one seems to care. Efficiency and straightforwardness seem to have made way for sleaze and rampant corruption. And we seem to hurtle on with a gay abandon!