Mayor’s ‘Big Talk No action’ leads to War Against Illegal Banners in City
Mangaluru: From the past two-and-half years Ramakrishna Mission is striving hard to keep the Mangaluru city clean by holding the Swacch Mangaluru Abhiyan. So far no political leaders, nor the members of the Mangaluru City corporation have participated in the Abhiyan. The main vision of Ramakrishna Mission is to keep the city clean so that the people of Mangaluru lead a healthy life.
Ramakrishna Mission along with its volunteers have completed 321 of the 400 abhiyans planned for this year. Every Sunday the volunteers along with the members of Ramakrishna Mission clean the streets of Mangaluru making it one of the cleanest cities in the state. More than 200 volunteers sacrifice their Sunday holiday and join hands with the Ramakrishna Mission with the only aim of keeping the city clean and to create awareness among the general public to own up some responsibility in the cleanliness of their city. Even after so many abhiyans and cleanliness drives, some of the people are very careless and litter the streets without thinking for a second the hard work of those volunteers who clean up the mess on the streets of our beautiful city? Why are most of us hesitant to clean our own mess by joining hands with Ramakrishna Mission in the good work they are doing? For “people who preach, it is time to practice because actions speak louder than words”. Educated youth need to own up the responsibility for keeping the city clean. Hanging banners, buntings, flexes etc and forgetting the responsibility of removing them when the purpose is met does not make us responsible citizens.
On April 30, the Swacch Mangaluru Abhiyan led by Ramakrishna Mission was held at Lalbagh and surroundings areas. Volunteers gathered in their respective areas and cleaned the streets. There were more than 60 banners hanging in the streets and spoiling the beauty of the city. The volunteers in a bid to bring it to the notice of the Mayor and remind her of her assurance of not permitting to erect flexes, banners etc removed all the banners and placed them in front of the Mangaluru City corporation main entrance for the MCC officials to understand their duty and responsibilities.
Speaking to mangalorean.com one of the volunteers said, “From past 30 months the Ramakrishna mission is striving hard to keep the city clean. Our youth along with Ramakrishna Mission work hard in their mission of keeping the city clean. We thought that government will come forward and do its part to keep the city clean but we feel that they are not bothered. Our Mayor has sseveral times assured of removing the banners but no action has been taken. Today without our knowledge some of the youth removed all the banners and placed them at the front entrance of MCC to remind the concern MCC officials of their duties. This is also a lesson to those who erect banners illegally.”
He further said, “Our war against illegal banners in the city has begun. In the coming days, we will form three teams to check on all the banners in the city. Banners found spoiling the beauty of the city will be removed and placed in front of institutions, offices, and houses of those who have erected them on the streets. Illegal banners that spoil the beauty of the city will be cleared”.
Another volunteer said, “We are cleaning the streets and painting them so that our Mangaluru city will look beautiful. But people do not value our work or understand the purpose of it. The cleanliness drive should start from our houses. If we can keep ourselves clean we will surely want to keep our surroundings clean. Mangaluru has been selected for smart city, the people of Mangaluru should also be smart and make the city clean by joining hands with Ramakrishna Mission. If we will clean our own mess, surely the society as well as city will look clean and beautiful”.
This will not stop unless we have a commanding leader and obeying citizens. The country has progressed in creating nuisance more often than considering real progress. All these leaders talk big when it comes to criticizing other parties but when it comes down to them they just go blind. A country with the best governance is just a dream as far as Indian politics is concerned.
It is so pleasing and satisfying to note from a long distance that we have active volunteers scattered all over the place in and around Mangalore that help to keep the place clean and neat, and also helps maintain order and discipline wherever and howsoever possible. Having said all that, it is also obvious that some of the major decisions should come from the Commanding authorities who guide the destiny of our exemplary city. Make no mistake, that each and every good deed along with the bad deed is being closely witnessed by our City Fathers and City Mothers, and… Read more »
Most of the huge banners/hoardings are from our politicians and religious organizations . First these should be removed. THE volunteers who work are always hesitant to remove such banners