Editor,
The other day, I saw a tender floated by Shillong Municipal Board inviting bids for setting up of low capacity municipal waste processing units at 4 locations around Shillong. What really caught my attention is the technology proposed to be adopted in these 4 units. It’s called Induced Heat Based Process, Oxygenation Plasma State Technology. Wow, must be a mind- boggling process. When we have failed even to operate a simple process called composting or an even simpler process called vermi-composting, we are now thinking of venturing into field of thermodynamics. What Govt. of Meghalaya should do is to select the most suitable technology based on its own capacity instead of being dictated by fly by wire operators. In case of any doubts, the government should check up as to how many plants are operating in India using this technology and using municipal solid waste as the feed stock.
As far as my knowledge goes, not a single plant is successfully operating in the country using municipal solid waste. Looking at the selection one tends to wonder whether Govt. of Meghalaya is striving to meet European emission standards. Instead, we should try to find out what happened to the composting plants set up a few years back in Tura, Nongpoh and Shillong at considerable cost or for that matter how our waste to energy plant inaugurated recently at Tura with a lot of fanfare with South Korean assistance is functioning today. If this waste to energy or RDF plant functions satisfactorily and if the product meets the standards as laid down in the guidelines for the usage of refuse derived fuel in various industries published by the Ministry of Urban Development, this would be a much better solution in our other towns than pursuing technology which is much beyond our capacity and means. It is certainly good to explore new technologies to address the ever increasing municipal waste problem in our cities and towns but looking at our track record and performance, it is best to adopt process which are simple, low cost and workable in our conditions.
My humble request to Govt. of Meghalaya is be practical and not get carried away by high sounding names. Instead concentrate on household level segregation, set up recycling units for the recyclable materials and start decentralized composting with involvement of local communities and self- help groups. On a priority basis identify and acquire land for waste processing units in all our towns. The possibility of setting up plants for refuse-derived fuel pellets can be explored further. In all probability, the new technology if pursued will turn out to be more of a wasteful expenditure than a solution.
Yours etc.,
B. Dutta
Shillong 1
Pedestrians’ woes
Editor,
It has been a little more than a week now that a tree fell across the road between Umshyrpi Bridge and Lummawbah Crossing in Upper Shillong. Consequently, the railing on the footpath along the stretch also collapsed on the footpath thus blocking the way of the pedestrians who have to come down on the road to avoid the debris lying on the footpath. Though the tree was immediately removed, the debris from the railing still remains on the footpath till date.
As the traffic on both sides of this road is always busy, and as many people especially students use this footpath to commute to their schools, colleges and workplaces, the safety of the pedestrians is put at risk by making them walk along a busy road instead of the footpath.
I am surprised to note that even after a week has passed, none of the concerned authorities are taking any action to clear the debris be it the Local MLA who is a Cabinet minister, the MDC, those who used to and who plan to contest the election from the area, the traffic police who have to monitor the traffic flow, the leaders of the locality and others. Ironically, even the Chief Minister and his convoy along with some government officials passed through this road on the way to a function nearby on Monday the 27th June 2022 but they failed to notice the problem of the common people.
Being one among the regular pedestrians using this footpath, I am at a loss for words to describe the irresponsibility and insensitivity of the concerned authorities. However, I will still request them to act before something unfortunate happens.
Yours etc.,
B J Syiemlieh,
Via email
NEHU’s absurd timelines and time tables
Editor,
The relevant decision-making body of NEHU for exams related affairs appears to be going through some kind of a midlife crisis as it continues to make one absurd decision after the other. The first of these rather stringent and yet impractical decisions concerns the pressure placed on colleges to finish corrections of several hundreds of scripts, per department, in a matter of a few days, without having given any thought at all to the plight of colleges with a higher enrolment of students per class. While the need to release the results of the 6th Semester students at the earliest is appreciated and understood, one cannot understand why the corrections of the 2nd and 4th Semester scripts need to be completed at breakneck speed since they will continue to remain in college for at least another year. Does the university know something about these semesters that the colleges don’t? Are the entry and exit facilities of the NEP going to be implemented this year so that the results of the 2nd and 4th semester students must be released immediately?
The second decision that is equally perplexing pertains to that of the examination of the post-graduate programmes. There are no gaps in between papers of any of the exams to be held for the post-graduate students. And the exams (theory and practical) have been scheduled to go on continuously for almost two weeks without any breaks. This decision to rush things and complete everything by the middle of July 2022 is beginning to raise a lot of eyebrows and many are beginning to wonder at the reasons for such insensible handling of matters relating to something as crucial as exams.
And the most astonishing thing to note is that the university does not see it necessary to explain its actions and decisions and proceeds to act in a most authoritarian manner.
I hope that these are isolated incidents and not an indication of more drastic and illogical policies to be introduced by NEHU in the days to come.
Yours etc.,
Name withheld on request
Via email
On ‘Ko Mei-Ramew’- ITM Theme song
Editor,
Apropos the news piece “Summer Salt releases its new album” published on June 30, 2022 in the Shillong Times, we would like to clarify that the quote shared by Pius Ranee, NESFAS Executive Director, was interpreted incorrectly. Summersalt was not the one that produced the ITM theme song ‘Ko Mei-Ramew’, but it was only Kit Shangpliang (a member of Summersalt), along with other local artistes from Meghalaya that were part of that song. NESFAS were responsible for producing the said theme song. We highly appreciate the immediate action taken by the team from ST in rectifying the statement in the news piece available on the website.
Yours etc.,
Alethea Kordor Lyngdoh
Lead Associate,
Communications, NESFAS