Prevention is better

Prevention is better

It is often seen that our government wakes up from slumber only when an incident assumes an alarming proportion. For instance, spread of Dengue cannot escape the ignominy of underestimating it initially. Government wakes up only when several deaths occur. Even our national capital, New Delhi, cannot claim immunity as several mosquito-borne deaths have been reported.

Guwahati, meanwhile, is also afflicted with this mosquito-borne disease. We fail to understand, why the municipality of several towns of Assam fail to live up to people's expectation - keeping the towns in a shabby state. Dibrugarh is not an exception. Dibrugarh Municipality undertakes the works of removal of garbage from the bins as a routine exercise, ignoring flow of dirty water from many small or big cals which remain stagnt. Only on certain selected cals near the main market, cleaning is undertaken from time to time. Normally, small children fall easy prey to such diseases. Surprisingly, the garbage bin in front of the Nursery section of the Salt Brook School near the Amolapatty Railgate is useating, so is the case with the one in between the Amolapatty LP School and the Salt Brook School (Amolapatty Chariali). The Dibrugarh Municipality removes the garbage from the bins. But the cleaning needs to be according to the wish of the people. In the evening, sometimes when we walk along the road (foot-path being fully occupied by the vendors), a foul smell always welcomes us near the garbage bin. Garbage bins near the schools are a bad omen. The municipality would do well if it can resort to cleaning some areas fraught with stagnt water and thick jungles, applying insecticides to prevent the mosquitoes from breeding. Preventive measures are always better as safeguard before it is too late.

Ashok Bordoloi,

Dibrugarh.

Freedom of press

It is true that the importance of media in a democratic set-up cannot be undermined. Censorship or restrictions of any kind is not desirable. Instead, self regulatory measures, not mandatory, by the media is a must. Also, there are certain sensitive subjects like the tion's secrets which cannot be made public in tiol interest for which it is for the government to issue timely directives for such news or views to be with-held from the public. Democracy or freedom of Press/Media does not mean that such sensitive issues can be dealt in like manner as the Press/Media may think so, for example, on defence or tiol security subjects etc.

What was the need to report in Indian media for the deployment of Brahmos near the Indo-Chinese border in Aruchal Pradesh as a Chinese newspaper and Chinese People's Liberation Army's (PLA) official mouthpiece, PLA Daily questioned such deployment? The media must be careful in reporting sensitive matters of tiol security subjects.

Mahesh Kumar,

B-49, Gulmohar Park,

New Delhi-110 049.