LETTERS: Corruption affects all

Apropos of the editorial “Drink-driving” (THT, August 28, Page 8), our traffic have done a marvelous job of catching hold of a huge number of drunk drivers. While many would wish for a relaxation on zero tolerance policy and a limit on drink driving, it might not work in Nepal where people have the penchant for callousness.

However, the Nepalese drunkards can take heart from the fact that in a few years' time they can drink by the barrel and still drive safely. Until such time that they can buy driverless cars, they have several options at their disposal to drink responsibly without breaking the tough rule. They can go home early to drink, rent a driver, sleep in hotels, hire an expensive taxi, or walk home, a healthier option, all of which some of us responsible citizens have done.

As we all know controlling drink driving is far easier than checking the wrong doings of the public servants and politicians drunk on power. We can come up with some sort of zero tolerance drink-driving policing mechanism to keep them from behaving and speaking irresponsibly like drunk drivers. We all know that many drunk drivers will mainly endanger their own personal lives, which most of us would not care about, on the contrary the public servants and politicians inebriated on illegal power and illicit money, derived from massive corruption like Ncell and tax frauds, will drive the entire nation off the cliff.

This is apparent in Sher Bahadur’s outburst at the airport that he is free to apply his right to speech and probably action, too, referring to an understanding to raise the walls of the Koshi Dam. There are people among us who could not agree more with him that he, as PM, is free to do what he wants, especially in the absence of sacred code of conduct. Some of us would not give a hoot if he wants to encircle the nation with dam walls to save our neighbour from the ravages of flood. What we would like to see is the application of the maxim-like notice adorning the walls of the government offices declaring ‘The corrupt are barred from entering’.

The irony is if we have some way to ensure drink-driving like zero tolerance on corrupt practices, 95 percent of the public servants will have a hole punched in their heads. Are we game for this?

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

Baba in jail

I am writing this to stress the fact that India is setting its own legal fairness to the entire world by giving several years’ jail sentence to the well-known priest or if I may say so the so-called religious and moral commander Baba Ram Rahim. I applaud the Indian judiciary and justice system for bringing the culprit behind bars though it was a belated justice. This will lead the world not to be skeptical about the legal system of India in years to come. I hope there are hundreds and thousands of Babas who are making women their sexual slaves. They must be reprimanded and put behind bars for what they have done.

Shiva Neupane, Melbourne