Potable water used for car washes Dear Sir,Kahramaa (Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation) always stresses the importance of water and power conservation and has run many campaigns to spread the idea’s awareness among the public. So it is a concern when one witnesses people want only wasting these precious resources .For instance, I have often seen people washing cars at parking areas of residential buildings, using potable water. I live in a building behind Oryx Rotana Hotel and the practice is common in our residential parking area. The other day when I went out to get my car from the parking lot near our building, I noted that a vehicle next to mine had just been washed. The elaborate washing had splashed a lot of mud and water on one side of my car. We even could not reach our cars because of the water and slush all around it. I had just done a full service of my car at a service centre. Because of that, the sight of my mud-splattered car came as a shock to me. My building is on Street 930.I don’t think it is legal in Qatar to wash cars using potable water. But it is routine in our parking area. In fact I have a feeling that a few tenants are even in favour of this. The cars are washed by taking water from the storage tanks placed beside the buildings in the area. I hope the authorities concerned will take necessary action to end this illegal practice. Jacksonjacksonville16@gmail.com
A major loss to Indian cinemaDear Sir,Veteran multilingual Indian film producer D Ramanaidu, popularly known as “the movie mogul”, who was suffering from prostate cancer, has died in Hyderabad at a private hospital at the age of 78. His death has shaken the Indian film world Ramanaidu held the Guinness Record for the maximum number of films produced by an individual. In 2012, he was conferred with India’s Padma Bhushan honour in recognition for his contribution to the Telugu cinema. In 2009, he received the Dada Saheb Phalke Award for Lifetime Achievement in the film industry for his outstanding contribution. He had contributed a substantial part of his earnings to numerous philanthropic activities. He had produced and directed films in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi and English. Probably, he is the only filmmaker in India to work in so many languages.Dr Abdul Ruff Colachal(e-mail address supplied)