Editor,
Thank you for the excellent article, “The violence that be,” (ST Mar 22, 2016) by Gertrude Lamare. Violence against women will not go away until goodhearted men wake up to the villainy of some members of their gender.
Yours etc.,
Deepa Majumdar ,
Via email
Of Leprechauns and Cleanliness
Editor,
Irish folklore has mention of a fairy type creature called a Leprechaun. It is a mischievous little creature that mends shoes and more importantly has a pot of gold hidden at the end of the rainbow. The door to door garbage collection in Shillong is as rooted in mythology for many residents, as the Leprechaun and his pot of gold. Being a hill city, Shillong has many houses that are not connected by motorable roads. The reach of garbage collection trucks is therefore limited by the lack of accessibility. The problems arising out of garbage collection and disposal are going to get bigger due to the ever growing population. These problems are compounded by the fact that Shillong is poorly planned and lacks proper infrastructure. While in the city, finding a garbage bin along the road side is like finding God himself. More often than not, one ends up carrying the trash back home.
Well, it would have been nice if the problem stopped there, however, the mythological garbage collectors refuse to take away the very factual garbage from our homes. I do understand that the Municipality lacks the manpower and resources to maintain an ideal collection and disposal system. However, the absence of a very rudimentary facility like a large garbage bin for the community from where the disposed waste could be collected without the need for mythic door to door service is undeniably unforgivable. So the question is “where does our garbage go?” It is indeed a mystery. One can draw a fair correlation between the private garbage collectors who do offer the door to door service at their whim and the choked open drains in the community.
I will not even talk about the open drain as I do not wish to digress. Although there have been attempts to clean up the city through various drives – door to door garbage collection, segregated collection of household waste, etc. , but such drives have not been sustainable. The distribution of the blue and green trash cans was a good idea. Their common use has been to carry drinking water from the neighbour’s tap. Active involvement of the public is imperative for the success and continued operation of such schemes. It is common knowledge that many of the localities inhabited primarily by the Khasis are remarkably clean as compared to those with mixed ethnicities. What are they doing right that others aren’t? What lessons can be learnt from them and more importantly adopted by the other localities? What is being done to educate and inculcate ownership of cleanliness of their localities among the inhabitants? After all if Mawlynnong can become the cleanest village despite the limited resources and lack of infrastructure, why can’t Shillong?
Yours etc.,
Hari Subedi,
Budapest, Hungary
Spare educational institutions please!
Editor,
NEHU, Tura Campus is a campus blessed with rich flora and fauna which comprise of many species inside the compound. All of this is hugely affected when fire broke out in the campus on Thursday evening. The fire was apparently lighted by some unknown miscreants. Such attacks against and educational institution deserves condemnation from every corner of the country. It shocks the students who are pursuing higher education in this University campus which is also the only one in Garo Hills region. I, on behalf of the student community of NEHU, Tura Campus appeal to all the citizens of the region to co-operate to bring positive about development for the campus, not to destroy its scenic beauty in the future.
Yours etc.,
Silning Sangma,
Via email