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Golden service

It is heartening that the Golden Temple management is sending food and medicine to victims of J&K floods in bulk. Shouldn't all religious institutions whose coffers are bursting at the seams emulate the Harmandar Sahib gesture and provide open-hearted help to our suffering brethren in J&K by holding good the principle of ‘vasdev katumbkam’ and share responsibility with the official machinery?

Dharminder K Aggarwal, Jalandhar

Where are separatists?

Kashmir is facing an unprecedented flood fury. Where are the hatred- spewing separatists and gun-totting terrorists? Why don't they come to the help of the people of Kashmir, whom they claim to represent? Or are they too perched on rooftops seeking help for their lives? The same Army whom they hate and abuse has come to the rescue of the people. The Air Force has launched massive day and night relief operations. The whole nation is with them. If the separatists’ wish for ‘Azad Kashmir’ had been fulfilled, what would have they done with their limited resources in this calamitous situation? Kashmir was a heaven on earth. They have turned it into a virtual hell. Some people got misled and supported them.

The separatists should introspect and retrace their path. Floods should serve as a God-sent message. The whole nation standing behind the people of Kashmir in their hour of need will hopefully change the mindset of the misguided elements.

WG CDR CL SEHGAL (RETD), Jalandhar

Respect nature

We are paying heavily for the cost of development in the form of loss of life and property caused by natural disasters. We should seek a better lifestyle, but not at the cost of the gift of nature by not tinkering with them. Calamities like the Gujarat earthquake, Ladakh cloudburst, Uttarakhand landslide and flood havoc in Jammu & Kashmir, all are a result of the ill-planned development by compromising environment by deforestration for making highways and cutting mountains for tunnels and roadways. We must learn lessons from repeated disasters and save nature. Nature is God and it must be worshipped and not compromised for shortlived selfish gains.

Dr (Prof) YPGupta, Ludhiana

Help flood-hit

The catastrophic floods in J&K claiming hundreds of lives and rendering thousands homeless and causing loss of property speak volumes of nature's omnipotence vis-à-vis human helplessness. Indeed, man is powerless before the destructive forces of nature, his rhetoric of scientific and technological advancement notwithstanding. Let us face this disaster by donating generously to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund to alleviate the suffering of the distressed.

Dr CS Mann, Beetan (Una)

Valiant soldiers

The statement by Shakespeare: “Sweet are the uses of adversity” describes the grim condition prevailing in Kashmir. Even as the heart-rending scenes of devastation caused by flashfloods are painful, the valiant soldiers working day and night to save people at the risk of their own life make one feel proud. Merciless nature has revealed the merciful face of the Indian army which, unfortunately, most Kashmiris never get tired of cursing on one pretext or the other. Hope the valour and selfless commitment demonstrated by our soldiers will not go down the drain and it will usher in an era of sweet change in the hearts of Kashmiris.

Deepak Kaushik, Radaur (Yamunanagar)

Afforestation needed

Not just Lahaul Spiti, but all hills in North India are cold deserts. If the forest planted by the British had been kept intact there would have been no tragedy of washing away of Uttarakhand last year and J&K this year. In the past 60 years, there has been criminal deforestation in all hills of HP, J&K and Uttaranchal. The government should launch a people's movement for afforestation and rainwater harvesting with the help of Japan instead of bullet trains.

NS Toor, via email

Proud of Army

It is appreciable that The Tribune has highlighted the efforts of Indian forces in relief and rescue operations in J&K with pictures. It is rightly said that a picture is equal to thousand words. The Army saves people from terrorists and during disasters. This is the difference between terrorists and soldiers. While separatist cowards are hiding in their rat holes, Armymen are carrying women and children on their shoulders to safer places.

Vasundhra Mankotia, Kangra

Roads with plastic

Plastic bags have become a menace for our country against which many municipal corporations are fighting. We can deal with the situation by making roads out of the waste plastic bags. Roads made of plastic when exposed to rain do not get damaged and last longer and are, thus, very economical. The MCs of Pune and Varanasi and states like Himachal Pradesh have started building roads out of waste plastic bags. We need to do this on a larger scale. Hopefully, one day India would be known all over the world for its quality roads.

Ashutosh Sangwan, Kurukshetra

‘Baba-in-samadhi’

Ashutosh Baba of Nurmahal is dead and his body has been kept in the deep freezer. What message does the Punjab Government wish to convey to the people? This tamasha of the ‘Baba-in-samadhi’ which has been going on for many months, despite the doctors having declared him dead, should end.

“We are not country of snakes, we are a country of computer mouse,” declared our Prime Minister Modi very proudly during his visit to Japan. But the Nurmahal incidence shows that we are still living in the medieval era. There should be no place for superstition and backwardness.

The high court has admonished the state government for playing into the hands of a few unscrupulous and greedy elements. By such deeds we are made a laughing stock in eyes of the world. We feel hurt. The government is a meek spectator.

Dr Ranbir Singh Pannu and Dr Baljit Dhillon, Amritsar

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