Dear Readers,
The launch of our Prime minister, Narendra Modi pet scheme “Swach
Bharath” has created a buzz all over the country and it is really heartening to
know that after so many years of tolerance to unclean surroundings, there is
someone at the helm who is giving a special impetus to this issue. It is a
welcome development and we need to see how to make this dream vision a reality.
Cleanliness of a country, greatly impacts the image of the country.
There is a lot to be learnt from the developed nations, when it comes to
keeping the environment clean.
Keeping our surrounding clean is a habit that has to be inculcated
right from childhood. For this to happen, we will have to be role models to the
future generation. Most of our people are so hardwired with their unclean life
style that it is difficult for them to break the pattern. The only way to make
them change is strict enforcement of law and penalty for non-adherence. Words
of advice will not make a big difference. At the meantime, the Govt. needs to
create provisions/ infrastructure which will enable the citizens to maintain a
clean surrounding.
Let us explore some of the areas, that needs to be taken care of :
Sufficiently placed public
dustbins: Dustbins should be placed in all public
places, every street corner and also along pathways. The dustbin should be
large enough and the approach to the dustbin should be clean. Most of the
times, we see dustbins overflowing with garbage that people hesitate to go too
near and start throwing the garbage in the peripheral of the dustbin. The idea
of waste segregation at source, is still at a conceptual stage. The Corporation
or Municipality workers, are not aware of the importance of this waste
segregation and therefore don’t follow it up, religiously. If they follow, it
will not only keep our environment clean, but it will also keep our environment
green.
Cleanly maintained Public
toilets: There are public toilets, in a few places
but it is maintained very poorly and no one feels comfortable to use the public
toilets as the stink keeps away
people even from a distance. Water availability is a problem. Government should
take steps to maintain public toilets clean, in par with the public toilets
maintained in good shopping malls.
Additional cleaning
measures for Tourist locations: Tourist locations
are prone to more littering as compared to other places because of sale of food
items all around the place. Therefore, additional efforts needs to be taken to
keep these places clean. As many foreigners come to India to visit the tourist
places, this is where they get to judge the cleanliness of India. When these
places are dirty then automatically they get the impression that India is
unclean and unsafe.
Ban on Street vendors: The street vendors cause lot of waste disposal in public places.
They sell eatables, and people who buy and consume it throw the left over or
the waste plate/ packets in public places. Paper packets, Plastic packets and
Aluminium foils of edible items like Chips, Chat items and other snacks are
found all around the place. The only way to stop this is to ban street vendors
and enforce the law vigorously.
Ban on Paan and Chewing
Tobacco: In Singapore, sale of chewing gum is
totally banned, as people tend to spit it or stick it in public places, which
is a nuisance to others. I think similarly we should similarly ban the sale of all
"Paan items and chewing tobacco" which people spit all around the
place and make it dirty. It is really difficult to clear up the mess this type
of stain creates on the walls and floors, in public places.
Enforcement of the ban on smoking
and drinking in public places: We are all aware that smoking and drinking in
public places is banned, but hardly do we see people adhering to the same. It
is probably because there is no strict action taken against violators. Also we
could see broken beer bottles thrown in public places which is not just a sore
to our eyes, but a health hazard too.
Avoidance of Plastic Bags
and Packing material: Plastic bags seems to bring a
lot of convenience to the shopper, but the problem is when they just carelessly
throw away those plastic bags, which creates a big mess all around the place.
Either the Govt. should ban the use of low micron plastic bags or the
shopkeepers have to start charging for plastic bags and disposable containers
which can to great extent, make people think of carrying their own shopping
bags are at least to use the existing plastic bags and not just throw it away.
If the Government takes some proactive measures to address these
above issues, I think India is not far from making this ambitions vision of our
Prime Minister a reality.
Happy Reading,
D. Senthil Kannan
Article Dated Jun 2015
