MAILBOX

Journey of a Change Maker
I was a little shaken while reading the article by Nilma Jahan, titled "Journey of a Change Maker" (published on May 13, 2016) and thought for a while about how easily one could solve the problem of unemployment. A 29-year-old educated person, Likhon, who is supposed to do a job in an MNC, is peddling through the street willingly. Certainly he is worthy of being an icon for those educated young people, who are still chasing a job like chasing the moon. They can step forward like Likhon with innovative ideas and groundbreaking initiatives. I would like to thank Nilima Jahan and the Star Weekend family for writing and publishing such an inspirational article which can give us an example to solve our country's impending unemployment problem.
Fareed Uddin
Keraniganj, Dhaka

No Eviction without Rehabilitation
Both mayors of Dhaka north and south city corporations have taken stern action against the roads encroachers especially floating peddlers, which is definitely a commendable job. Due to these peddlers' encroachment of footpaths, full capacity of the streets become impossible to utilize which sometimes lead to traffic congestion. Dhaka city is considered as the 12th mega city in the world. Day by day its population is increasing whereas numbers of roads in the city remain the same and those roads are occupied by many elements. I am thankful to the mayors for this timely step to make the city more livable. However, I would like to suggest to them that instead of evicting these peddlers; authorities should take the step to rehabilitate them. Eviction just by the muscle power of the administration cannot bring a sustainable solution because we must remember that these street shops are the only source of livelihood for these peddlers.
Mohammad Zonaed Emran
Banasree, Dhaka

Photo: Sayam U Chowdhury

Destroying Our Lifeline
When I read the article titled "Destroying Our Lifeline" published in the Star Weekend on May 20, 2016, I felt a bit ashamed that how ungrateful we have been to the nature. I remembered clearly that night when the destructive cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh in 2007. We could not sleep in fear of stormy winds at that night. Bangladesh would have suffered more, if the Sundarbans had not saved our densely populated cities from the raging wind rushing at 260 miles per hour. I think the writer is absolutely correct in his opinion. We really are only interested to exploit, not to give back and preserve. We are very interested to tap into all our resources but not a bit concerned about saving the Sundarbans. We must correct ourselves before something even worse happens to us.
Enam Hasan
Madaninagar, Narayanganj