LETTERS: Rules only for vehicles

The other day I was stopped by a traffic cop and he seized my license as I was not using my safety belt while driving.

I appreciated the concern of the traffic police and respected the traffic rule which was meant to protect the drivers and passengers from any kind of mishap.

However, it made me think why only the lives of vehicle owners are important when millions of pedestrians’ lives and health conditions are severely in danger due to poor management of road conditions and bellowing dust all the day.

Dust pollution as a result of never-ending road construction, either by Melamchi Drinking Water Project or the department of road, electricity or telcom companies, has severely affected the health of citizens all the time, particularly the school going children and elderly people who are the most vulnerable sections of society.

Not only the streets are narrow, even footpaths are not available for pedestrians, as they are mostly occupied by vendors, forcing them to walk along the motorways.

Who is responsible in the event of an accident due to potholes and obstructions from the construction materials on the roads?

Why are the traffic rules strictly applied only for vehicle owners and not other citizens who also use the roads?

L.Thapa, Lalitpur

Autism cure

I felt completely overwhelmed after reading an article about the most pressing issues of today´s children: Autism “Know your child’s behaviour” (THT, April 11, Page 14).

Kudos to the research-based news report! Needless to say, autism can be visible among the children at their tender age, particularly below two years.

When a child doesn’t respond to the parents´ instructions, when they show repetitive and restricted behaviour over long periods of time, when they find difficulty in verbal and non-verbal communication, when the lack of eye-contact among them persists at the time of communication, among others, then one can knock on the doors of the child neuro-surgeons without any hesitation.

Many people in our country have a general perception that children can be kept on proper track and under discipline via threat and strict manner, let alone giving physical torture and punishment to the budding kids.

The bitter truth is that they fail to generalize cognitive psychology of the children struggling with autism. Understanding the psychology of autistic children and dealing with them is not that easy.

However, it’s not impossible provided that the guardians are well aware of autism and its negative consequences and the child neuro departments or children´s hospitals take efficacious initiatives in order to help raise awareness among the parents regarding the remedy of autism.

We need to understand that autism can be cured at the very early age.

For this to happen, parents themselves need to be aware of the problem and come forward to seek help from a paediatrician if their child shows those types of symptoms at the early age.

Sanjog Karki, Tansen