Fr Joseph Kulathunkal, SDB
In perhaps his best known audacious act, Fr. Thomas Kalluvelil, SDB dares and does the impossible at the delight of all the Municipal workers and their bosses who see the light shine through six-month-old-evergreen banana plants where once there was a reeking and revolting garbage base at the gate of Don Bosco Provincial House at Metha Colony, Dimapur, Nagaland. The chairman of the aforesaid colony with his cohorts came thrice recently to throw the bamboo-fence protecting the banana- grove but returned without an eyeball to eyeball confrontation after hearing an appeasing word from Fr. Thomas Kalluvelil, SDB the administrator.
People from neighborhood dump their waste on either side of Army Supply Road passing by Don Bosco gate an exercise that was going on year after year under the very nose of the Metha Colony people and the police the next door.
Perched on the geographical tip of Assam’s ancient Kachari kingdom Dimapur with a population of 122834 is branded as the major commercial capital of Nagaland hosting the largest number of major banks such as State Bank of India in the State. A thorough and detached analysis reveals that there is little doubt that this growing town tends to be a nucleus along with Kohima and Tuensang, major towns in Nagaland where thousands of youngsters milled about aimlessly fosters growth of HIV/AIDS/syphilis. The commonest breeding ground of these pestilences being irresponsible and promiscuous sexual activity the main plank on which sexually transmitted diseases would rest.
Without detailed investigations and encyclopedic summaries, the upshot of this critical development is stretched to various levels of human activity such as sanitation and hygiene. Health is ruined by living in a polluted city/town adopting harmful lifestyles such as smoking, drinking alcohol, unhealthy sexual activity and overeating, says Dr Gita Mathai in her book Staying Healthy in Modern India.
Several years ago, the Municipal authorities had taken the initiative to place garbage disposal bins in major locations in Dimapur. However, most of this facility has been destroyed, stolen, relocated or simply disappeared. Goaded by destructive and impulsive behavior of the citizens, it met a natural end. Nonetheless, local authorities heading colony institutions such as Metha Colony where Don Bosco Provincial House is located seemed to have failed to provide garbage disposal facilities and thus deprived the inhabitants of a timely and extremely healthy provision.
Another gigantic task to tackle, the growing menace of waste disposal is the citizens’ laziness to underestimate health hazards caused by polythene bags. It is said gratia supponit naturam (grace builds on nature)! People conveniently pack waste materials in such bags and toss them on streets and into drains. To cite an example the drain near Holy Cross which the municipal workers cleared recently was clogged with plastic bags of all sorts – color, size and thickness. Such complex and multi-faceted realities pollute the environment and cause untold gargantuan health hazards. Thus the present prime ministers’ “Swatch Bharat” declaration seems to be absent here.
Unflinching in their determination to make Dimapur a clean principal business hub, two groups of municipal sweepers and carriers start their tasks from 5.00 to 8 PM through the Circular Road to ADC Court and then to Dhobinullah. It is of interest to know that they then go on to north of the town. The tidal wave of un-love that runs through the people’s hearts fails to measure equally the aforesaid outgoing efforts of goal-setting.
The municipal employees find that every drain in the town is packed with non-degradable plastic materials.
An alarming gush of positive dengue cases threatens the general health of the citizens who sit on a smoldering volcano. It might be ludicrous to assume that it is not that harmful. The Morung Express reported a total of 835 dengue cases out of which 140 have been tested positive as on September 2, 20I8. The National Vector Bome Disease Control Program has appealed to public in Dimapur to observe one day dry in a week.
The aforesaid Salesian has to his credit multi - trees – plants – projects at Don Bosco.
