LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Put Up Warning Signs After Landslide

A major landslide on national highway at Khandepar caused a sever traffic blockade (NT June 26). It is understood that this is the second landslide along this route. A massive landslide had occurred at Curti a few days back on the National Highway where construction of a four-lane road is in progress.  It must be said that wherever the mud is soft in nature the hills develop cracks as a result of hill cutting activities and incessant rain. Road widening activities has also taken a toll of the trees along the road as a result of which there not many trees left to hold the mud together. This can lead to landslides in the rainy season. Just like roads where many accidents have taken place are declared as ‘Accident Prone Zone’ it seems necessary to identify areas which are prone to landslide during the rainy season. Necessary sign-boards need to be erected to warn the road-users so that they take an alternative route. Wherever a landslide has taken place the road needs to be closed and traffic diverted till the monsoon season is over. A hillside that has experienced a landslide is prone to more landslides in the immediate future. This may necessitate the construction of a retaining wall to prevent further landslides.  All road construction activity which necessitates cutting of hills for road-widening, need to take into account the nature of the soil of the hill and it’s stability in order to prevent such landslides.

ADELMO FERNANDES, VASCO

Afghan Women Find Their Voice

Women are the neglected lot in many countries.  Patriarchal outlook and primitive traditions have locked these women  in a shell.  Even as they try to wriggle out of the suffocating atmosphere and  assume command, they are forced to reconcile to their fate due to the evil designs of the socio-political milieu.  The vicious cycle of illiteracy, unemployment and low self-esteem tend to push women to the  brink.  Afghanistan is wrongly seen as one of those countries  which has done nothing by way of batting for its women folks.  The unending war and violence, religious fundamentalism and misgony  have ensured little women’s participation in public discourse.  However, the evolution of women of Afghanistan has  largely gone unreported.  Of late,  poor and illiterate Afghan women   have something to cling on to because more media personnel  are coming forward to provide  voice to the hope and aspirations of Afghan  women.  Freedom of expression and right to dignity are two essentials without which no woman can make  a mark, and the electronic and print media in the country have been dong commendably well to make women’s voices  heard.  Over the years, it is not an unfamiliar  sight to spot Afghan women entrepreneurs storming a male bastion, and work shoulder to shoulder in legal, medicine, and education fields with males. Rural Afghanistan’s stride towards women empowerment has not escaped the world’s attention.  Gender inequality, though not a thing of the past, is no more a rule in Afghanistan.  Many male chauvinists have sobered down thanks to the electrifying articles by writers.    Yes, numbers won’t  lie–crimes against women are on the rise. But the powerful medium of journalism and  literary pieces have enabled an  Afghan woman to take  challenges by the scruff of the neck.

Ganapathi  Bhat, Akola