Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Wednesday directed Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Ramesh Lekhak to take immediate measures to minimize road accidents across the nation after 34 passengers were killed in an accident in Katikedeurali of Kavre District very recently.

I have heard that over-crowding, poor road condition and old buses are the main causes of such accidents. There are many police check-posts all over the country. All passengers who do not have seats should not be allowed to travel.

In many cases, conductors tell the passengers without seats to walk for 5 minutes to fool the police when they are at the police posts.

The police should ride the bus from the check-point to a distance that is not practical to pick the off-loaded passengers again.

Such practices by the police would stop over-crowding. All major police posts should have engineers to check the most vital parts of the bus like brakes, gears, claws etc. Only buses with no fault should be allowed to operate.

In many cases the roads are very narrow for the buses.

The size of the bus should match the width of the road. The road department should urgently black-top the roads that are only mud tracks now. Buses should not be allowed in poor roads.

Those bus-drivers who drive after drinking alcohol should be discouraged by laws. Drivers failing the alcohol test while driving should be deprived of their licence.

Laxmi Bhakta Manandhar, Kathmandu

Cholera scare

About a dozen species of vibrio (VIB’-ree-oh) bacteria make people sick from eating raw or undercooked seafood.

Drinking or swimming in tainted water also causes cholera and other water borne ailments. The poor supply of water by Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited has pushed the inhabitants of the capital city to rely on about 800 different privately owned suppliers that supply water in plastic water jars.

A recent study has revealed that most cases of cholera in Kathmandu are rooted in the poor quality of water thus supplied.

The dream of Kathmandu people to get a chance to drink cold water from Melemchi River has not been fulfilled yet and the concerned authorities have already started to warn that Melemchi would not suffice to meet the drinking water need of the capital city after 2025 AD.

Everybody would agree that we need a reliable source of drinking water for Kathmandu.

Since the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea are not drying, monsoon rain in Kathmandu Valley would be a reliable source and a full and complete conservation of this rainwater would be possible by putting a dam at the Chovar Gorge and many more dams and reservoirs at other appropriate sites.

A complete system to treat the sewage would stop the pollution of the rivers that might open new possibilities of producing cooking gas, electricity and environmentally friendly manure to keep the city clean.

R. Manandhar, Kathmandu