Stepping out of the house, it is becoming impossible to walk on the streets. Polyethylene carry bags and empty plastic bottles are scattered everywhere. One can daily witness people tossing household garbage onto the roadsides.
During the rainy season, this waste is washed away, stagnates in one place, rots, and emits a stench that pierces the nostrils.
 |
| Babojola in Odisha |
Lakes, ponds, and rivers are now overflowing with trash. Government hospital toilets, municipal, and bus stand restrooms have become 'disease-spreading pits.'
Due to the lack of adequate public toilets, people are forced to relieve themselves in secluded corners and against walls; the resulting stench of urine is enough to unsettle the very air we breathe.
Even our forests haven't been spared. Those who invade them in the name of tourism and spirituality are scarring the woods with their waste.
To make matters worse, heaps of excrement from packs of dogs roaming every street make pedestrians recoil at the thought of stepping out.
Liquor—once consumed in secrecy—is now drunk 'openly' without hesitation. Because bottles are thrown indiscriminately, 'glass forests' are flourishing all over Tamil Nadu. It is a matter of shame that the government is the one ploughing and fertilizing these forests.
Local bodies like Panchayats and Municipalities, incapable of modern recycling or value-adding to the waste they collect, dump it along water bodies, creating a catastrophe.
Both the people and the administration know all this. It all happens with full knowledge. What then is the true tragedy hidden here? It is the irresponsibility of the administration and the stubborn, undisciplined, and indifferent attitude of the public. In total, the nation’s sanitation has become a graveyard; even a graveyard might be cleaner, but the country has become a desolate wasteland.
The Victory of the people: Babojola Village!
While the entire Indian subcontinent is trapped in this degradation, the village of Babojola in Odisha stands as a whip-crack of an example. There, change did not come from individual responsibility alone; it came from the systematic planning of the Local people.
In Babojola, drinking alcohol, smoking, spitting, and littering in public spaces are strictly prohibited.
1.Proper Infrastructure: The village residents has set up dustbins and organized youth groups to collect the waste.
2.Technological Monitoring: CCTV cameras are installed throughout the village to monitor littering. This demonstrates the seriousness of the people.
3.Punishment and Regulations: Imposing fines on violators or making them clean the area is a strong 'administrative action,' not just a piece of advice.
The Moment for Change: Administrative Struggle and Cultural Revolution!
Individual discipline was the starting point for Babojola’s success, but that cleanliness persists because of a strong attitude of the village people.
The government’s primary duty is to keep the country clean. If a small hamlet can monitor its streets with CCTV, why can’t municipalities with crores of funds do the same?
However, we cannot escape by blaming the administration alone. This is the moment where the struggle to fix the administration and a 'Cultural Revolution' to change people's minds must converge.
It is the need of the hour to make the government machinery function properly while simultaneously cultivating the discipline of maintaining public spaces among the people.
We must speak out about this, at least during this election season. We must question those coming to ask for votes about street cleanliness and waste management. Only when the firm action of the administration and the cultural change of the people unite will this 'desolate wasteland' turn back into a 'green nation'!
Ooraan (ஊரான்)
News Source: The Economic Times / Times of India
