Past perfect: Lake Palace in Udaipur (top) and Bal Samand Palace in Jodhpur are two of Rajasthan’s most successful heritage hotels

Apropos the report “Heritage home, luxury lair”, February 4, it is good that enterprising businessmen are looking to convert grand crumbling houses into heritage hotels. Such efforts have been very successful in Rajasthan.

Hopefully, tourists would love to stay in such heritage hotels in Calcutta. This would give the decaying structures a new lease of life. The buildings are landmarks and must be preserved at any cost.

However, the government should have taken the initiative before entrepreneurs did.

Ratan Kumar Halder,
Behala

Apropos the report “Constable under attack”, January 25, the administration has failed miserably in reining in autorickshaws. They flout road rules and disrupt the flow of every other vehicle on the road, yet no action is taken against them.

Auto drivers often misbehave with people. The only reason the Salt Lake incident has come to light is because a traffic constable was at the receiving end. Ordinary people have no option but to accept the bad behaviour. Lodging a complaint is futile because the police won’t take on the powerful auto unions.

Diptimoy Ghosh,
Salt Lake

It is alarming that one-third of the head and neck cancer patients in the city suffer from oral cancer and the number of such patients is increasing by 10 per cent every year (Delay in oral cancer risky, January 25). Many of these patients do not go in for treatment in time, leading to complications. The reason for the delay is a lack of awareness.

Warnings printed on the wrappers of tobacco products have failed to reduce their consumption. Perhaps, the time has come to consider a complete ban on tobacco products. Attempts should be made to produce healthy substitutes. The government has the most important role in the prevention of such diseases.

Dinabandhu Mukherjee,
Behala

Apropos the report “Raze rage on house”, January 22, it is intriguing that going by the civic body’s estimate, almost half the 600,000-odd buildings in Calcutta are illegal although the building department is supposed to sanction plans according to rules. It is the bitter truth that illegal practices go on for years due to administrative inefficiency.

Govinda Bakshi,
Budge Budge

It is unfortunate that Class IX student Sucharita Dutta had to suffer a serious injury because of reckless driving by her pool car driver (A pool car ride to trauma, February 1). Such accidents are not rare in Calcutta. A schoolboy recently died in such a mishap.

Most pool cars are illegal and ply on the road by bribing law enforcement authorities. Only an accident spurs the state administration to crackdown on such vehicles. Unfortunately, the drives do not last long. Eventually, the law-keeper and law-breaker come to an agreement to put more young lives in danger. The attitude of the guardians is difficult to fathom. They cannot always avoid using pool car services but they can definitely ensure that the operator has the papers.

Subhankar Mukherjee,
Borehat, Burdwan

Apropos the report “Tease held and SMS arrests”, January 24, it is good to learn that three teenagers were arrested in and around the city on the charge of eve-teasing. Eve-teasing is spreading almost like bird flu in the state. It needs to be rooted out to maintain a healthy and free atmosphere especially for girls who attend schools and colleges.

Prahlad Agarwala,
Majdia, Nadia

I met Gopal Saha and congratulated him. Kudos to Metro for highlighting his amazing act of honesty (Honest housekeeper, February 27, and “He has done us proud by doing his duty”, February 28). I feel he should be rewarded but what he did cannot be valued in terms of money. I think the best reward would be to get his favorite heroes Sourav Ganguly and Shah Rukh Khan to call him and tell him that they are proud to have a fan like him.

Nilanjan Pathak,
Salt Lake

It was refreshing to find a report that brought to the fore the honesty and humility still existing in our country. The Gandhian principles have long been forgotten and most of us end up lying or adopting unfair means. It may be copying in the examination or suppressing our faults. What Gopal Saha did is something that we do not expect. A person with loads of problems, with money as the only solution, he could have used the cash. But he chose to stay humble and honest. He has inspired me to be more honest in my own life.

Debolina,
Address not given

Sorry, Gopal. We are not impressed.

God gives everyone one chance in a lifetime and you missed that. The door to God’s bounty is closed for you forever and you need not curse Him for that.

The value of Rs 1,22,000 would have been more to you than to the person who would have lost it. Your joy, had you kept the money even at the cost of your job, would have been much more than the sorrow of the person losing it as she has much much more.

And if someone goes to a movie with such a large amount in cash in her handbag, in all probability, the money is of dubious origin.

You spoilt God’s gameplan and missed an opportunity to send a strong social message to people to be cautious with their money. Instead, you rewarded carelessness. People will perceive that there is no harm in being careless, as the Gopals are there to return lost valuables.

Md. Motleb Ali,
Nangi More

St Sebastians School, Lake Gardens, wishes to felicitate Gopal Saha before its students during assembly on any weekday convenient to him between March 3 and 7. It will be a short programme, following which he will be dropped to his workplace. We also wish to speak to him regarding his further studies.

A. Majumder,
Secretary, St Sebastians School

Dear Gopal,

“As you live your hours, so you create your years. As you live your days, so you craft your life. What you do TODAY is actually creating your future.” I was just reading these words by Robin Sharma when I read about your deed. You have a great future ahead.

We would like to contribute Rs 1,000 per month should you want to continue your studies. Please let us know.

God bless,

Teresa and Philip Gupta

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