Keeping the city clean
THAT well-intentioned actions can lose their purpose without active participation of the people is highlighted by the three pictures carried in Thursday's The Daily Star. Those show three different and dismal states of the road – side waste bins put up by the two city corporations as part of the effort of the two mayors to keep the city clean. These pictures are fairly representative of the general condition of the several thousands of such receptacles set up by the city corporations all over the metropolis. Either they are damaged, tied upside down or only the iron frame, meant to hold them up, is the only thing standing. And even those that are standing are not being used correctly.
The common refrain from most quarters would be that the city corporations did not carry out the necessary awareness campaign before setting up the waste bins. Admittedly, there is woeful lack of civic sense amongst us, and from time to time the authorities should conduct awareness drive, particularly on using civic facilities. But the level of civic sense one possesses or does not possess, is not correlated to the level of education or affluence of a person. It has to do more with his or her innate sense of right and wrong. Not one of the motorcyclists who run their vehicles on the pavements is indigent, but nonetheless defies the law without any qualm. But one wonders if it requires much awareness campaign for the city dwellers to realise exactly what these light waste containers are meant for.
As for disappearance of the bins, there are ruffian groups that go about stealing these things, and perhaps volunteer groups in each locality can be organised to watch over these.
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