Apropos of the news story “28 killed, 11 missing in floods and landslides” (THT, August 13, Page 1), devastating landslides and flooding in a three or four year cycle are not unnatural in hills and Tarai.

As a nation rich in hills, mountains and waters, earthquakes, landslides and flooding are an inalienable part of our life. What is shocking is people’s greed and government apathy. If someone builds a house or hotel on the bank of Reu Khola or Rapti river, he should be prepared to be washed away in due course of time.

The fate will not be different for those that build houses and hotels on precarious slopes. That is why we have geologists and engineers to warn us which places are fit for habitation and which are not. Just cannot put up houses and roads and bridges wherever one fancies. Still, God has been very kind to Nepalese. But we should not stretch our luck too far, but we should desist from destroying nature. If we ignore nature, it will strike us back like never before. And when that happens, thousands of NRA’s will not be able to apply even one centimeter of ointment on our sufferings. What is also of concern is the report of flooding in Lalitpur. As a native of the Kathmandu Valley, I have never heard of flooding until the housing hoodlums started putting up houses on the slopes and by the river banks where we would not even defecate.

Not satisfied by building houses by encroaching upon river shores and changing its course, they are even building their personal bridges over Karmanasa in Lalitpur and rivulets in Buddhanilkantha. No wonder, Imadole, which I personally find unfit for human habitation, is flooded.

The government must immediately act and demolish the bridges over the river built by KIST hospital and some housing hoodlums for their personal interest. Personal bridges on rivers and roads are illegal, and before the frustrated people take law into their hands the officials will do well to remove them and reclaim the encroached river banks at Karmanasa.

Flooding in the valley results from tampering with nature, mostly by housing hoodlums. It must be stopped by all means.

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

Hype or reality

Can the Nepalese version of social networking site emulate the Facebook and Twitter? It came into light that Sagoon may be popular in the world like today’s Facebook. If this is something we need to pay attention to it, then it must be propped up by the Government in terms of providing the necessary cybernetic environment for supporting the existing dream and the energy that the owners and stakeholders of Sagoon have. I think nothing is impossible though things may look stupid at first. Mark Zuckerberg seemed to have been an idiot by dropping out of university and being involved in the embryonic stage of Facebook.

Shiva Neupane, Melbourne