Editor,
Anyone trying to call any of the helplines of mobile service providers located here in Shillong, whether the company is Aircel, Airtel, Reliance Jio etc…is usually greeted by a voice on the other side either in Hindi, Bengali or English, and even if it’s in English their accent is so poor that its impossible to understand them. The plight is worse for those from rural areas who might call for some issue or clarification. It seems, the management of these cellular companies do not understand that it is not those who stay within the city who fail to communicate in the above languages but even those from the semi-urban or rural places find it difficult. So it would be prudent for such companies to recruit more local girls and boys who can communicate and interact in the local language both in Khasi and Jaintia for the benefit of the users, or else this can be construed as a deficiency of service on their part which is unacceptable.
Yours etc…
Dominic S.Wankhar
Shillong
Censor Board!
Editor,
This is with reference to your editorial, “A new CBFC chief” (ST, August 17, 2017). Censorship is all about scissors and cuts. Scissors can be used to cut excess hair or to cut one’s throat! While it is dangerous not to censor an overdose of violence and sex, it is equally dangerous to cut the people’s voice. The former is why we need a censor board, but it must be mature enough not to go to the extent of killing the people’s fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata
Cool, clear waters,
Editor,
Cool clear waters are words that take me back to the sixties when a song was a hit and was beautifully sung by a popular local group called ‘The Amigos’ if I’m not mistaken. Cool clear waters were aplenty in the Shillong of those days as the rivers and streams flowing through the town still had water that was probably fit to drink or at least to bathe in.
A popular stream was the one flowing from Dhankheti through Barik point and IGP before carrying on alongside the road till it emptied into the Ward’s Lake. Mischievous boys would float their paper boats on this stream and would then follow their boats for a mile or two. The rivers here in Wales remind me of the once clean Wah Umkhrah and Umshyrpi and the smaller streams the Risa, the Thang Sning, the Pom Dngiem which at one time, were as clean as the rivers here now.
I remember those days when after game of football at the Polo field, most of the players would unhesitatingly head to the Wah Umkhrah for a good wash in its clean waterd after which we would rush off for a hot cuppa and a plate of ‘channa’ at dukan ka mai – wonderful days indeed. Cool clear water is hard to find now in Shillong except at some of the localities situated at the base of Lum Shillong where clean spring water is still available but here again, these water sources are dwindling by the day due to deforestation and uncertain rainfall. Water is now a money spinner and in the rush to make more and more money, water is being overdrawn from bore wells and natural wells which are not given enough time to replenish themselves.
I gather quite a few natural wells have dried up in the last few years. Recently, before leaving Shillong, I attended a very interesting meeting of members of local dorbars at the PHE office which had been organised by our Nongthymmai MLA, Jemino Mawthoh, on the present water supply situation in Shillong. The PHE department had briefed the members on the many difficulties they were facing in supplying water to the citizens of Shillong. They also briefed us on the future problems, one of which is the very high demand for water in ten to fifteen years time.
The amount of water that will be required then is indeed frightening as it would run to millions of liters. Keeping in mind the dwindling resources, where will this vast amount of water come from? What is the solution if there is one? Fortunately, there is hope. Apart from looking for fresher sources of water which are becoming more and more difficult to locate, another viable proposal may lie in water harvesting i.e. the recharging of the underground aquifers.
The collection of rain water in tanks big or small, is a rough form of water harvesting but is not the true form. Real water harvesting is the recharging of underground reservoirs by directing the flow of rain water from the roof of buildings or other sources, into recharging pits. Shillong gets enough rainfall in a year and even if we can redirect 30 to 40 % of this rain water back into the ground through these recharge pits it would be a massive achievement. Deforestation and cementing of courtyards and compounds and ‘pucca’ roads now prevent the flow of water back into the ground.
A department dealing with water harvesting can be set up – perhaps the PHE itself can be given this responsibility with an independent department. The government should make it compulsory for offices and houses of over a certain size, old or new, and all deep tube well owners, to take up water harvesting through recharging pits. In 5 to 10 years the underground reservoirs will be replenished to a great extent and this should help in alleviating the water supply problem then. But we must act now and I would request the Chief Minister, the MLAs, the public and the many NGOs to collectively take up this matter urgently else, in times to come, Shillong will be known as ‘ Bone Dry Shillong’.
Yours etc.,
- M . Pariat,
Wales