Editor,
Tura town is a disgrace – a dirty, filthy, disgusting blot on the otherwise pristine Garo Hills. With streets ankle-deep in litter and roads awash with trash, the whole place is fast becoming one giant rubbish dump. Do people actually enjoy living in this filth? Don’t we care about our surroundings? Or is it that we are simply just not aware of the appalling amount of litter which pollutes every nook and cranny of this town?
You, with your crisp packets hurled out of autos and you, with your cigarette packs flung out of cars; you, with your polythene bags dumped on the road, you, with your broken bottles, and you, yes you, with your chocolate wrappers and empty biscuit packets and ice cream tubs carelessly flung aside, have you no shame?
Why is it so difficult for you to get rid of your rubbish properly? There are bins – why can’t you use them? And if you can’t see a bin nearby, then why can’t you keep your litter with you until you find one? Or better still take it home and dispose of it properly?
And you, you shopkeepers, why can’t you provide bins for people to throw their junk food in? After all you make enough from selling the stuff. And you, you school administrators, could you stop checking your bank accounts for just one moment and take a look outside your school. Filthy isn’t it? And don’t say that it’s outside your school and therefore not your fault. It is your fault! These are your children dropping their sweet wrappers on the road without a care in the world. You do teach environmental studies, don’t you?
People of Tura, wake up! Take a look around! We should be ashamed to live in this filth! Please lets develop some environmental awareness, and please for God’s sake please, STOP THROWING RUBBISH ON THE ROAD!
Yours etc.,
Tim Wallace,
Tura
No Plain Belt Dist please!
Editor,
It’s surprising to hear that some little known organisation called PBDDC is starting a movement for the plain belt district. Are they not aware that they are living in someone’s territory? How can they raise their voices without concern for the sentiments of Garo people living in Garo Hills? It would be a mistake on the part of PBDDC and Mostopha Kabir, the active leading member of PBDDC to go ahead with such demands. Their demands are completely baseless and illogical. It would simply bring social disharmony and communal tension in the region. On the other hand, Garo people will never tolerate if anything goes against their sentiments. So kindly stop before things turn ugly. At the same time I ask my Garo brethren to raise your voices and remain united to safeguard our “Garoland.” I fear in that in future our own people will be betrayed and become aliens in our own land.
Yours etc.,
Topaz Arengh,
Via email
Clarification: Bajengdoba Hanging Bridge collapse
This is a reply to the faulty information concerning the suspension bridge published in a letter to the editor of your daily (ST March 23, 2012)
First of all the bridge is not 40 meters long but 60 meters. The money approved by the Managing Committee from the school operation was only Rupees ten lakhs and not fourteen lakh as mentioned in the letter. All this amount is only from the school fund and not from any other source. The incident that took place is not 9 pm but around 8 am. The injured people were about 45 who were given immediate medical attention in private hospitals like Solace and Seven Sisters Hospital in Goalpara, Assam not in Civil Hospital. The materials used are not sub-standard. The government deputed engineer said that the cable and materials are standard size in fact larger size than it was recommended in the drawing made by the Sub-Divisional Officer (Tech Wing) Director of Border Area Development. And the work was supervised by J.E., P.W.D. The Government Engineer observed no defect in the building but said that it was due to over load. The real truth is, a girl crossing the bridge in front stopped at the exit side, thereby suspending all other movement, resulting in the bridge being overcrowded. There was no exit but only an entry into the bridge hence it was overloaded with more than 70 people. That is the cause of the anchor break. Otherwise everything else is intact.
Yours etc.,
M M Rimsu,
Principal