I APPLAUD the minister for his statements on the need for proper environmental husbandry as reported in a news item carried in the 03-01-09 edition of your paper titled ‘Dr Ramsaran calls for multi-agency approach in flooded communities’.

But if Dr Ramsaran were in that hapless young man’s place, what would he have done with that wheelbarrow of debris and other rubbish?

I suppose that Dr Ramsaran lives in a nice neighbourhood with a good road that accommodates Municipal removal of garbage. Most of the people in the countryside do not have that luxury.

It is a sickening and sad sight to see the garbage strewn on the roadside along the highway in the rural areas. With the local authorities doing virtually nothing to alleviate the situation, what can/should the residents do?

Yes, education is necessary for the people to deal with the garbage. But what provision is made for people to dispose of their garbage?

Freddie Kissoon once (once?) made disparaging remarks about how he was glad that he did not live in the countryside, because of the way people left their garbage. Perhaps he and Dr Ramsaran could give us some practical ideas on garbage disposal.
Devanand Bhagwan
Toronto, Canada