Letters to The EDITOR

 The road that leads to Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) via Old Court is in a absolute bad shape. We are sure; any patient who traverses that particular stretch suffers a lot due to heavy jerking he/she experiences which compounds the illness. Again, the horrible traffic-jams in front of the other nursing homes say, Sanjibani, Aditya, HM, GM and few others cause inordite delay in arriving at the casualty and other concerned departments of the hospital leading to deterioration of the health of the patient. Particularly, at the peak-hour, this traffic srl assumes a dangerous proportion that may result into the death of the patient. Interestingly enough, no traffic police can be seen to help easing the jam.

Through this column of your esteemed daily, I appeal to the authority concerned to take appropriate steps to mitigate the sufferings of the patients in particulars and the commuters in general.

Ashok Bordoloi,

Dibrugarh.

Delhi continues to be among the most lethally polluted metropolises in the world. Air pollution is also linked to respiratory ailments such as asthma and bronchitis. Many times, it results in fatal consequences. Air pollution adds to several diseases which spread through air also.

The worst air pollution in Delhi is felt this time as foul smell that of like burning crackers is being felt almost throughout the day. This is an alarming situation for the worst health outcome of this killing air pollution. One major reason is burning of crop leftovers by farmers in nearby states. The government must solve this problem as it is a regular annual feature. The crop leftover -waste can be brought by government at some fixed price which will be a much-needed fincial help for the farmers. This waste can be made recyclable or dump at remote suitable places somewhere in the country only clean air must become part of the ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign.

 Long term measures are the need of the hour. Short time measures, like odd- even scheme of vehicles , with so many exemptions is not enough. Even this measure implemented last year failed to achieve its objective. Increasing parking charges by four times is also a futile measure. A simple solution to the issue of ever increasing cars on roads is to ban the sale and purchase of cars in India, say, for at least five years. There are other serous reasons for air pollution too. Some other measures in the long run are:  Minimise construction work-which is going on almost all over in cities, implement strictly industrial norms of pollution, remove on war footing dirty and filthy garbage from roads etc.  Both the civil society and government must get their act together to control hazardous level of air pollution. Self-measures like use of public vehicles and a car to be used when absolute necessary etc.

M Kumar,

New Delhi.