LETTERS: Sluggish act

It is not new for the people of Tarai districts to be awfully gripped by cold wave during winter and massively displaced by floods in monsoon every year.

The local people face extreme hardships in these seasons. Many of them even lose their lives due to such natural calamities. There can be nothing done to stop these natural calamities. Nonetheless, the number of people dying from such calamities could be minimised if timely precautionary and necessary measures are taken by the government and the concerned authorities.

In Nepal, this does not happen in the need of the hour. It was so sad and unfortunate to know that over two dozen people have already died due to extreme cold in several Tarai districts over the past few days. If the mercury continues to drop, more people will lose lives due to lack of warm clothes, proper food and appropriate shelters.

Now, the government is preparing to give relief to the affected districts “Govt to release worth Rs 22.2 million to victims” (THT, January 9, Page 2). Why does the government not act in time? Why does it wait until people die? Why don’t the District Disaster Management Committees (DDMCs) quickly assess the situation and start reaching out to the needy in time? Don’t they realise that every winter brings cold waves in the Tarai districts, affecting the lives of the poor people? Was it necessary for the government to wait for the President showing her concern about the loss of lives in Tarai and then only act after its attention was drawn to the deaths of the people?, as your story “Prez concerned about loss of lives in Tarai” (THT, January 9, Page 2) says.

It seems that the future government needs to formulate appropriate policy and programme to decentralise its authority to DDMCs so that necessary relief materials can reach the needy in time to ensure that nobody loses his/ her life to cold waves.

Rai Biren Bangdel, Maharajgunj

Inhuman

Social evils in Nepal have been reported in your newspaper “Child marriage rampant in Bara” (THT, January 9, Page 5).

The news has revealed how child marriage takes place again and again and people are not coming forward to end this practice. Even, people are not considering physical and psychological effects of this reprehensible act. Law has already banned the practice of child marriage but lack of awareness is helping the scourge continue.

Along with this, Nepal is still suffering from menstrual myths and many deaths have been reported while undergoing the ordeal inflicted by society. Recently, a woman in Achham was reported to have died when she was banished to a hut “to practise” Chhaupadi, which was recently criminalised in the country.

But social practice makes it difficult to end through law. Here, awareness could be only the solution to bring an end to this inhuman act. How do we forget that we are humans and such activities do not behoove us?

Siraj Ahmad, Dharamshala