Apropos of the news story “Stiff penalty for throwing trash from vehicles” (THT, December 16, Page 2), the move shows that it is an initiative for creating environment-friendly and litter-free vehicular movement.

This measure will act as a deterrent to the most unruly people who do not care about the cleanliness of the streets and pedestrians.

Furthermore, it is also an awareness campaign launched by the traffic police to keep our streets and highways neat and clean from garbage and litter, a common habit of the people who are least bothered about making clean our public places, streets, highways, rivers and forest areas.

However, the move by the traffic police appears to be a punitive action, not a measure to develop it as a habit and common sense of all the people who travel by bus or private cars.

Rather than resorting to the punitive action, the Department of Transport Management and Traffic Police can educate the drivers that throwing trash from the moving vehicles on the streets is not only uncivilised behaviour but also an act that makes the surroundings ugly and polluted.

If all the people do not litter the public places we do not need more people to clean it too often and clear the garbage too often, no more vehicles to collect the garbage and dump it at safer locations.

Even the drivers and conductors of a public vehicle can warn the passengers against throwing trash out of the windows of the vehicles they are travelling in.

The bus operators can distribute a plastic bag to each of the passengers on the long distance journeys and tell them to keep the trash into it so that it can be safely dumped at garbage disposal centre where it is allowed.

Padam Rai, Udayapur

ELECTION

This is with reference to the news story “Major parties agree on civic polls” (THT, December 16, Page 8) I am very disappointed to learn that the major political parties have agreed to hold local elections under the existing structure.

Since the nation is marching ahead in new local level and federal set-up, the idea of holding local polls under the old structure is very regressive. It would delay the political process of federalism in the country.

Undoubtedly, holding the local level elections under the new set-up will be an uphill task; however, the first priority of the government should be to try its best to hold the civic polls under the new set-up being prepared by the Local Bodies Restructuring Commission.

When will the government hold the local level elections after it holds the local bodies’ elections under the old structure? Therefore, the government must try to resolve federalism-related issues and try its best to conduct the polls in the newly formed local bodies.

It is not a time to engage in political confrontation but a time to hold three tiers of elections forging minimum consensus among all the political parties.

The parties must understand the fact that federalism will move forward only when all three tiers of elections are held on time.

Mani Dumre, Pokhara