Shun violence in all educational complexes
On Tuesday, a 12-year-old student reportedly opened fire at a secondary school in Southern Finland, killing one and seriously injuring two other students. It must be said that campus violence is quite common in Western countries, especially in the US. However now such acts of violence appear to have entered school campuses in Goa as well. On Wednesday, the Cujira education complex in Bambolim saw a tense situation as arguments between two groups snowballed into a fight. This led to injuries to three students and arrest of three youngsters on charges of attempt to murder. It is learnt that one of the accused was brandishing a knife which was captured on the mobile by a passerby.
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The video was circulated widely on social media prompting an FIR to be filed. Violence in school campuses, which are seats or learning, need to be dealt with a firm hand by the law-keepers. This menace needs to be nipped in the bud. Police presence seems necessary near school and college campuses.
This will act as a deterrence to such acts of violence which can harm other students. It is learnt that the institutions based in Cujira education complex and parents on Thursday called for setting up of a police outpost and continuous patrolling in the area. The police need to complete the investigation in the present case and punish the accused as per law. Visitors should be allowed to enter school campuses only after proper verification.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Install speed governors on all heavy vehicles
The recent accident at Dramapur on NH 17 where a young lass lost her life due to the reckless and dangerous driving by driver of the Kadamba bus needs serious introspection. One of the main reasons of these accidents is overspeeding even on narrow roads by these Kadamba buses and the only way of controlling this is by installation of speed governors on all heavy vehicles. This Dramapur accident happened as the bus rammed her Dio scooter from behind with no fault of the girl whatsoever.
Drunk driving is another cause of concern as these drivers have a peg or two before embarking on a long run like this bus was on the Margao-Karwar route. There was no mechanical failure like the common reason given otherwise after a fatal accident is brake failure. This driver’s licence needs to be cancelled indefinitely to act as a deterrent to the others.
Lucas Dsouza, Verna
Israel must stop ‘terrible boy’ behaviour
Israel continues to be the ‘terrible boy’ in the neighbourhood with recently yet another firing on people standing in line to collect relief and an air attack that killed seven workers from an international charity organisation.
On the latter attack, one needs to at least take some heart since the head of the Israeli military has acknowledged the attack as their mistake while in other cases you find them in outright denial of the attacks.
Israel continues to obstruct other efforts to unload and distribute aid which will exacerbate the desperate situation in Gaza where the UN has said famine like conditions prevail and that aid is required urgently. Again the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus by the Israelis was way out of line.
The intensity of the attack that razed the building to the ground killing some 7 people including 2 senior Iranian generals needs to be condemned. How can Israel cross borders like they do in Lebanon and Syria and carry military action with impunity is something that is shocking. The policy of – Tooth for a tooth and an Eye for an eye, is being extended to extraordinary lengths. When other countries cross international borders and attack neighbouring countries it immediately attracts international approbation and demands that such aggression stop immediately.
But with Israel this does not seem to be happening and it appears that they have a special licence to attack their neighbours. Israel’s excuse is that the terrorist organisations in Syria and the Lebanon like the Hezbollah conduct unprovoked rocket attacks as well as other terrorist action into their territory.
And the justification for the Iranian consulate operation was that Iran continues to support both financially and materially the terrorist organisations in Syria and Lebanon. This kind of action by Israel cannot be allowed to continue and very definite restraints need to be put on them that include verifiable evidence to be presented to the UN and no trigger-happy, off-the-cuff responses in retaliation.
Srinivas Kamat, Alto St. Cruz
Some lessons are never learnt
The farm owner’s negligence in failing to cover a non-productive borewell in India has led to his infant grandson’s fall into it. Satwik Mujagond fell into the farm’s borewell while playing nearby. Rescuers are trying to rescue the boy while earthmovers dig a trench. Unfortunately, people still disregard the lessons learned from the past involving borewell accidents. We pray for the child’s safe rescue.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
