Editor,
One is struck by the dirt and rubbish that is all over the NEHU campus. This is the same sight one sees all over Shillong. Wahumkhrah and other streams stink notwithstanding the Meghalaya Pollution Control Board directives. The famed Golf Links are open air rubbish dumps especially on Sunday evenings. There are no new parks being established and people have to use this vintage beauty for their Sunday evening outings. Existing green areas are being degraded daily and no seems to notice. NGOs founded with the objective of cleaning Shillong amid much fanfare seem to have lost their voice and teeth.
Can I ask concerned individuals to please raise their voices? Can we start with Schools, Colleges and universities like NEHU, IIM, NEIGRIHMS and religious institutions to lead from the front? Can we request their management to please enforce a model code of cleanliness in their institutions and campuses? Can we the people ask our elected representatives to please place the cleanliness of their constituencies on the top of their agenda and take them to task if they do not? Let us take this matter into our own hands wherever we are and make a difference in the places we live in and work. Let us not continue to be ashamed of this rubbish dump we call Shillong and not allow others to litter. We should start by watching our own actions when we litter unknowingly and at times knowingly. Let us start with ourselves first and accept our responsibility by making cleanliness a daily habit and not a once yearly affair.
Can your paper be an agent of change? The Shillong jottings have shown all these and more but no follow-up action transpires. Can readers who are in positions of authority take up this matter as their own?
Yours etc.,
Dr. S.Syiem,
Via email
Improper planning and rash driving in NEHU campus
Editor,
It is more than 25 years since the permanent campus of North-Eastern Hill University at Umshing-Mawkynroh was established. The number of students, teachers and non-teaching staff residing in the campus has grown exponentially in these years. More and more buildings have come up as quarters, hostels, shops, canteens and offices in the name of development. All this has happened without proper planning and is happening only in some areas (for example around/near Life sciences department).This makes NEHU look like a congested slum. It appears as if there is no more land with the University, although it owns more than 1000 acres of land. This reflects very poor long term planning and vision on the part of NEHU authorities and past Vice-Chancellors. Instead of futuristic planning for the next 50-100 years huge portions of land in the campus have been cordially donated to IGNOU, ICSSR, Sports authority of India (SAI) and to English and Foreign languages University (EFLI), thus, showing the unique example of locating Universities within a University.
The number of two wheelers and cars belonging to the residents in campus has also increased tremendously. In the 80’s we could count the number of cars and scooters belonging to the residents. But now the trend has changed; there is hardly anyone who does not own a two wheeler/car in the campus. With the increase in the number of vehicles there is also rash driving. The present model of vehicles have a high pick-up and people who drive fast tend to lose control of their brakes.
The campus has also become a paradise driving lessons. In the past many accidents have occurred in the campus due to rash driving, narrow roads, curves etc. Rash driving has made it very difficult and risky for the morning /evening walkers. Few months back two teachers had a serious accident during their evening walk because of reckless driving by a youth near gate No. 2. That accident could have been fatal. Similarly in the residential areas also car owners drive speedily without a care for the children or the residents. Many times the small children are scared of walking or coming out of their houses because drivers think they own the road. Many children have very narrowly escaped being run over in the past because of this reckless driving. Requests to colleagues to drive slowly and carefully in the residential areas, is met with rebuff. Earlier some speed-breakers were constructed at some points on the roads to control speeding in the campus. It is high time the University authorities pay attention to the present situation and come out with a long term road map for NEHU and also construct proper speed-breakers at vulnerable places in the campus to avoid accidents.
Yours etc.,
Prof S.B. Prasad)
NEHU, Shillong-22