In Jorethang, litter freely

JORETHANG, 19 June: Garbage disposal has grown into one of the more vexed challenges facing the towns and villages of Sikkim. So vexed that despite all the announcements and awareness meets, images like this – of a pile of garbage across the road from the Jorethang Nagar Panchayat office – have come to embarrass. Even as the residents complain of the stink and the filth, the urban local body here is obviously still struggling with the issue. Such filth is always unsightly, but given Jorethang’s notoriety of attracting disease outbreaks during monsoons, is also a health hazard which should not be ignored so off-handedly as is obviously being done in this South district town.