New policy for garbage

The piles of garbage seen on the streets of Kathmandu has troubled every one passing by. With the rain water, epidemics might spread like in Jajarkot. The government should make a new policy about managing garbage. Furthermore, they should search for a new place for their disposal. This has to be done quickly.

Ashraya Dawadi, Balaju

Needed

At a time when the country is going through a severe diarrhea epidemic, the health minister is on a foreign trip. This goes to show where the politicians

are taking our country. Just on moral grounds, being the one

responsible, he should have

been here dealing with the issue. Rather, he has the audacity not to inform the PM or anyone else for that matter and enjoy a trip to Europe. I think there should

be a system to ensure that such irresponsible acts do not go unchecked. If he cannot be there for the people, why do we need him? The government is also to blame for not taking action.

Saurabh, via e-mail

Critical

Apropos the news article "Nine rhinos poached", (THT, July 29) it was a horror to know about the poaching of an animal that is at the point of extinction. At such a critical stage, when even small harm to a few may prove to be lethal for the whole species, it is shocking that nine of them were killed in the past five months which makes almost two rhinos hunted every month. We cannot afford to lose such a rare animal to any thing but its natural death. Moreover, the dead animals

were found in the premises of a conservation area. The poachers might totally wipe out the species soon with much help by the destruction of their natural habitats. The conservation authorities ought to maintain strict vigil against the poachers and act more responsibly towards the conservation efforts. Poaching is a serious crime

and strict laws have to be made and enforced.

Rhea Gurung, St. Mary's College, Jawalakhel

Be aware

The recent incident that occurred in Bangladesh made me think about the need for

strict quality control checking of pharmaceuticals of Nepalese companies. We have seen and heard numerous complaints

regarding the quality of Nepalese pharmaceuticals drugs. In Bangladesh some traces of toxic chemicals were found in Paracetamol leading to the

death of 24 children in recent weeks.

These traces were of toxic diethylene glycol used in textile and leather dyeing industries. In recent years, adulteration of chemical substances has increased in daily consumable items in order to make profit.

Diethyl glycol is 10 times cheaper than normal solvents that are used for manufacturing Paracetamol. So the government health department should be aware about these sorts of adulteration and mobilize inspection teams for quality

control analysis of Nepalese manufactured medicines.

Mr Ragab Basnet, Kalanki

Overdue

Environmental scientist Bhusan Tuladhar has suggested that the people of Kathmandu need to develop a culture of using most of the solid wastes from every household by itself (household).

I fully disagree. His vision of vermicompost in every household is likely to be limited to NGO reports than actual practice. The vast majority of the people of Kathmandu have problems to find a tiny space to stretch themselves. I do not think that they would find it easy to have space to breed earthworms. Most of the housewives hardly find time to feed their own children. To give time for the earthworms would not catch their imagination.I would like to opine that a system of the fastest, cheapest and the most efficient removal of all the waste from every household and from every

environ is long overdue. It is urgently necessary to have special sanitary garbage cans for every household and to have a system to collect them regularly for systematic transfer of the garbage to the disposal sites. Of course, the disposal sites could mean recycle industrial sites or compost-plants or incinerators or land-fills or even power

generating mini-plants or feed factories. It could also be a combination of two or more

of these economically beneficial and environmentally friendly schemes.

V.P.Sayami, via e-mail