Letters to the Editor: Road Accidents

One of the major causes of fatalities, disabilities, and hospitalizations is traffic accidents. Given the significance of this issue, the government periodically adopts relevant Acts and changes policies for effective measures for national road safety. The two leading causes of traffic accidents are excessive speeding and drunk driving. On unpatrolled roadways, inebriated drivers have nothing to worry about. We are all aware of the dangers associated with drunk driving. According to data, there were severe injuries in one-third of the 4.1 lakh traffic accidents that were reported in 2021.

Chandan Kumar Nath,

Tezpur University.

Tail lights in heavy vehicles

Most of the time we see that many heavy vehicles' tail lights, headlights or brake lights don't function well, which results in accidents. This could be either because the owners/drivers are not concerned about other people, or because they are on some illegal mission. Ironically, we see that the drivers' cabins of such vehicles are full of many blinking lights. Many accidents are taking place due to this factor. These days we see a lot of fog so it is difficult for the car drivers to get a clear vision of the roads and if the heavy vehicles ahead don't have functional tail lights then it becomes more difficult for those driving such vehicles to drive on the foggy roads. I have personally faced the problem during a when a truck was parked on the highway and tail lights were off. I believe that if any driver is aware of the tail lights of his vehicle are not working then he should not park his vehicles on the highway. As such, I request the authority concerned to look into the matter very strictly to avoid road accidents and bring about a positive change.

Jini Disha Kapil,

Gauhati University.

Plight of street

beggars

I would like to draw the attention of the government of Assam to the fact that a huge number of street beggars can be seen suffering every winter in the city because they don't have proper shelter, food and sufficient warm clothes to cover themselves during extremely cold weather. Some charitable organizations are distributing clothes to the beggars, but it is not possible for them to distribute clothes etc., to everyone as are numerous street beggars all over the city.

Many also lost their lives due to various diseases caused by chilly weather conditions.

I would like to request the government to take action for resolving the problem. After all, the beggars are also human beings and it is very heartbreaking to watch them suffering on the roadsides. I look forward to quick action on this matter.

Ruchira Seal,

Gauhati University.

Shrinking

Joshimath-Shall we learn anything?

Joshimath in Utarakhand is the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Badrinath and Kemkund Sahib. It is facing a major challenge due to land subsidence, forcing more than 5,000 people to stay in relief camps. The sinking town has been declared disaster prone and construction activities have been banned in Joshimath and nearby areas. Demolition of residential houses, commercial establishments and few hotels are in progress. The expert panel tasked by the Centre had blamed unplanned infrastructure activities, including hydropower projects, thermal projects for the alarming situation.

Tunnel construction by NTPC, Tapovan Vishnugard hydropower project, Helang bypass work, four-laning works using heavy machineries and blasting of the fragile hills in the region have contributed significantly for subsidence of the holy town. The 1976 report by an expert committee under the chairmanship of the then Garhwad Commissioner clearly stated that Joshimath was situated on an old landslide zone and could sink if development continue unabated. The committee recommended that construction activity be prohibited in Joshimath but no one took it seriously and activities against nature continued, resulting in the present disaster. The entire north-eastern region also stands equally fragile being prone to flood, erosion, landslide and earthquake. It is time for us to be alert. Nature is not happy with us.

Debajit Goswami

Guwahati

Ideal mother

Hiraben Modi, the mother of former Gujarat Chief Minister and present Prime Minister of the nation, Narendra Modi, left for her heavenly abode at the age of 100 years on December 30, 2022. She was the ideal mother as far as Indian culture is concerned. Never in her life time she was publicly seen with her son. She was very rarely seen with her son in some religious, social and family occasions totally privately without any publicity. She never tried to be in any political limelight. As an ideal Indian mother, she blessed her worthy son only on special occasions without any media publicity. Unfortunately the very same is not seen in another mother-son duo, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi whose relationship is based on lust for power and money.

Dr Ashim Chowdhury

Guwahati