Your Amma/Appa Don’t Work for MCC- Clean Up Your Own Mess

Your Amma/Appa Don’t Work for MCC- Clean Up Your Own Mess

Mangaluru: The ongoing festival period is not just heightening the spirits of people; it is also increasing the size of the mounds of garbage already plaguing the city. Left-over flowers, sugar-canes, plantain leaves, ash gourds etc that found no takers during Ayudha Puja, Dasara, Tulasi Pooja, and other festivals lined the streets of popular city areas in the city, blocking traffic movement in some parts, painting a grim picture of the garbage collection and disposal system in the city post the festivities. The Mangaluru City Corporation has been nice to these street vendors who come from Bagalkote, Arsikere, Hassan and other parts of Karnataka, in allowing them to make business during various festival days.

But the problem is that once they are done with their sales for the day, they leave all the mess/garbage behind, which in some places are seen piled up. Even as the city celebrated Tulasi Pooja on Friday, the streets along Nehru Maidan Road, Road opposite Town Hall, Market Road and other busy shopping areas have been left with uncleared mountains of wet waste/garbage from the festival. And the poor Pourakarmikas of MCC early morning are seen sweeping and collecting the waste and the garbage clearance trucks were seen at some places attempting to carry out the herculean task of ridding the roads of the rotting garbage. But my question is that, why MCC employees have to clean up the mess left behind by the street vendors? These street vendors are not even the citizens of Mangaluru. They don’t even pay City taxes. Then why is MCC not taking any action against these street vendors who leave behind a big mess, that Pourakarmikas have to clean up.

Frustrated and exhausted couple of MCC Pourakarmikas speaking to Team Mangalorean said, ” This is not fair, leaving behind such a large mess by these street vendors. They don’t even give us ten rupees to do their clean up work. While we have to clean up the daily garbage, this additional garbage by these out-of-town street vendors is a burden for us. These vendors don’t care, nor MCC officials care about us. Why should we have to clean the mess left behind by non-city residents. Even the street vendors who sell old clothes every Sunday, also leave behind unwanted clothes and every Monday we get stuck with the cleaning job. We only hope that MCC will look into this sitaution, and warn these street vendors about their carelessness and ugliness”

These Street vendors need to be blamed for the garbage-lined roads. Footpath vendors, mainly selling flowers, fruits and vegetables, would dispose of the waste wherever they set up business. One shop owner near Market area speaking to Team Mangalorean said that he has to carry out business on the footpath right in front of heaps of garbage on the road. He complained that he had lost some business due to the filth. Segregation too went for a toss during the celebrations. With the festival season continuing every now and then, fears of the problem compounding loom large.

Early morning traffic jams come with an additional problem – garbage piled up by the informal market set up by street vendors at some areas. This is a never ending problem-When the vendors wind up for the day, they leave the garbage behind, spilling on the roads, inconveniencing the commuters and shopkeepers around the areas. “The dirty and slippery road affects our business. Our customers are reluctant to come to our office due to dirt,” says Shabeer, a merchant on Market road. He adds that the pourakarmikas also don’t clear up the garbage, since it is too much for them to handle, other than taking care of daily garbage. He says the garbage has become unmanageable because the number of these street vendors coming from outside using the city streets has gone up over the years. ” Some of us (merchants) have already discussed the issue with MCC, but all our efforts are in vain, since the MCC officials have done nothing so far. This is ridiculous- on one side we are talking about Swachh Bharath, on the other hand you are allowing to create garbage” added Shabeer.

Although Mangaluru is ranked as the top three top cleanest cities in the country, but there has been always garbage and filth scattered all over the city. The MCC officials have turned a blind eye towards the garbage created by street vendors. These vendors need to be warned, and fined if they leave behind garbage after their business. Once a volunteer of The Ugly Indians, a volunteer group that help in cleaning the city had said, “We believe that there is no magic wand, or silver bullet, to solve India’s or Mangaluru’s civic problems. We are realists, and accept that many of Mangaluru’s problems are hard to solve even if the government and public work closely together and money was freely available. Of our many civic problems, we view the problem of visible filth on our streets as a behaviour and attitude problem that can be solved in our lifetime (or rather, this month). This can be achieved without spending money or changing legislation or systems. It requires coming up with smart ideas to change people’s rooted cultural behaviour and attitudes. And making sure those ideas work. And to make this happen we need public support in keeping the city clean, and we also need more volunteers” .

The above message from the TUI volunteer should be taken very seriously by all those who are ignorant and littering the city, including street vendors who mess up their business areas. Let’s not be ignorant- let’s appreciate the work done by MCC Pourakarmikas, volunteers of (Swachh Bharath) Ramakrishna Mission and all others who are trying to keep Mangaluru clean. We need to learn manners of cleanliness, we need to join hands with MCC and other voluntary associations who are striving to keep this beautiful coastal city clean. Let’s not dirty it by our ignorance and dirty manners. MCC needs to educate these street vendors about cleanliness, and if they are still ignorant, punish them with hefty fines. Period.