Needless to say, Kathmandu is being polluted day by day in many ways. As such, air pollution is one of them. Nowadays, in Kathmandu,  we can see most of the roads under construction due to the Melamchi water pipelines  in places like Minbhawan, Mid Baneshwor, Gaushala, Mitrapark, Chabahil, Koteshwor, etc. Having said this, due to this ongoing construction, pedestrians breathe large quantities of dust particles while moving from place to place. So, the concerned agencies should do something effective about these roads so that the pedestrians can feel relief from the dust particles sooner than later.

Saroj Wagle, Dumarwana, Bara

Child workers

This has reference to a photo of the rescued children with their guardians (THT, Feb 2, Page 6). While it is certainly commendable to rescue impoverished children from brick kilns and Valley buses,  pulling them away from gainful employment is clearly not a durable solution, as they might well be the sole

breadwinners of the families. The government must, therefore, work on a durable solution rather than one based on fits and start such as tracking children at the behest of NGOs and returning them to their families. This will not work as they will be back in Kathmandu or, worse still, in Simla and Kashmir. In many cases, children are working in buses in full view of all, including government agencies, whose job is to stop children from working. All of them will give their age as 15. I observe and interact with some of these kids in local buses, and all of them are much smarter and more worldly wise than the schoolchildren of their age or older. Streets and work places can be excellent learning places. We have many street smart entrepreneurs in Nepal who rose from the streets to become big bosses in airlines and elsewhere.

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

Ban on liquor

Generally, three arguments have been made against any liquor prohibition move. First, people are to be blamed for social evils not the commodity. Second, imposing a ban on liquor consumption is against liberty, and third, government loses a good amount of tax revenue. However, these arguments do not hold water. First, ‘culprits-people-not-commodities’ theory can help a drug mafia to get away with this logic. The ‘liberty’ argument cannot stand either as liquor makes its addicts forget that someone’s tip of the nose is the limitation of their freedom. Without this fundamental knowledge, liberty is lost in a jungle raj where it is restricted only to the fittest brutes. Finally, the government expenditure to deal with alcohol-related crimes, accidents and health issues far outweighs the excise duty on liquor.

Sujit De, Kolkata