Mluru Dirty Again! Citizens Ignorant towards Good Swachh Work done by Ramakrishna Mission
Mangaluru Dirty Again! Citizens Ignorant towards Good Swachh Work done by Ramakrishna Mission
Mangaluru: Every year for the last four years Ramakrishna Mission, Mangaluru along with thousands of volunteers on Sunday for nearly 40-45 weeks have engaged themselves in cleaning work as part of “Swachh Mangaluru” Abhiyan/Campaign, with an to make Mangaluru, the Smart City, also a ‘Clean City’. But unfortunately the good efforts, determination, and commitment put in by the Swamis of the Math, and the volunteers involved in this Abhiyan, are being abused by many citizens of Mangaluru, including the ” Rich & Educated “, who are being ignorant in again dirtying the area cleaned by the RK Mission volunteers.
(Before)
Just look around the City, where a few months ago many areas which were neat and clean after the cleanup work done by these “Good Samaritans” of RK Mission-are filled with filth and dirt. If citizens have such kind of dirty conscious in their mind, rather than common sense, how can you expect PM Narendra Modi’s dream of making Bharath/Mangaluru Swachh/ ‘clean’ by October 2, 2019, Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary. This goal will include the elimination of open defecation, which he called a “blot on society”, especially for women and young girls.
Making an appeal for a non-political movement driven by patriotism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat, or Clean India, Mission on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on 2 October 2014, and locally Ramakrishna Mission had carried forward that Campaign with great concern and determination to make Mangaluru also clean and green. “Bapu gave us the message ‘Quit India. Clean India’, but his ‘Clean India’ dream is still unfulfilled,” PM said on that day speaking in Hindi. Referring to the winning logo, which features Mahatma Gandhi’s round-rimmed spectacles, PM Modi had said, “When I saw that logo, I felt as if Gandhiji is looking at us through those spectacles to see if we have made India clean yet.”. On that 2 Oct, 2014 Modi asked his countrymen to give Gandhi the gift of a clean India for his 150th birth anniversary (2 Oct 2019). ‘I am confident that Clean India will give us as much joy as Quit India,” he said. But looking at the surroundings in Mangaluru, seems like Kudla citizens have taken PM’s message seriously, nor have appreciated the work done by RK Mission volunteers.
Mangaluru even though got the status as one of the Cleanest City in the Nation, ( I still doubt how did it happen??), but in reality, it is not 100% nor even 50% clean- just wake up early morning and see the streets before Pourakarmikas do the cleaning. The City is disastrous with garbage scattered all over. Apart from that many areas which were cleaned by RK mission few months ago, are once again littered with garbage. And one area among the many areas cleaned by RK mission, and now littered again by citizens of Mangaluru is the area in front of Natural Ice Cream, Near Kadri Pumpwell/Kadri Road.
On Sunday, 25 February 2018 early morning around 8 am, saw new changes in and around the Kadri Pumpwell vicinity, on Kadri Road near Bharat Beedies Ltd/Natural Ice cream shop, when bunch of Ramakrishna Math volunteers as part of “Swachh Bharath/Swachh Mangaluru campaign undertook a massive clean-up drive in this locality- and my God, they simply changed the “Dirty Look” of the vicinity into a “Clean Look”- to the utmost surprise of the local residents- where some of residents might have felt guilty of dumping garbage there earlier. Team Mangalorean even had published an article (Ref: http://www.mangalorean.com/kadri-residents-appreciate-the-clean-up-work-by-ramakrishna-math-volunteers/) dated 5 March. Few months later, and as of now, eight months later, the clean area is once again turned into a Garbage dump Yard? Yet another article was published recently on 7 September (Ref: https://www.mangalorean.com/they-come-to-eat-ice-cream-whichs-natural-litter-waste-in-the-area-whichs-natural-too/) after filth was noticed.
(After)
And most of the culprits are rich people who litter, in spite of being educated also. Each day or night customers come in high end cars like Mercedes, Audi, Jaguar, BMW, also top branded Indian cars to buy their favorite natural flavors of Ice Cream at ‘Natural Ice Cream’ parlour located here, and in spite of these folks being well educated, and many of them being stinking rich- but one thing for sure is that they haven’t learned how to keep the surroundings clean by not littering. While the volunteers of Ramakrishna Mission involve themselves in cleaning the City every Sunday, but on the other hand we have these best cream of the society littering the area with ice cream cups, fast food wrappers/carry bags; and also liquor/beer bottles etc.
A proposal was also made to the Bank Manager of Karnataka Bank located nearby by the Math representatives, if the Bank would be a sponsor to take care of the cleaned up garden area near the Bank-for which the Manager was willing to do so after discussing the matter with his higher officials at the Head Office. Also the employees of Natural Ice Cream were met, and they also assured to keep the area clean- but one employee said, ” We do our clean up job around the area every night, but some ignorant people still dirty the place, which we can’t help”. But the efforts of Math reps have not been materialized either by the Bank or the Ice Cream parlour. Sorry to say, The area is filthy again!
But while there are many organizations like Ramakrishna Mission trying their best to bring awareness about ‘Swachh Bharath- Swachh Mangaluru’, but sadly we have also the educated and rich who ignorantly try to go against the Swachh Bharath Abhiyan, by littering as they like. Only Modi and volunteers of Ramakrishna Mission can’t make a difference in bringing a clean environment- it is the duty of every citizen of India, as well as Mangaluru to take the initiative to maintain cleanliness around them. Civic Sense/Common Sense is absolutely needed to make Mangaluru Clean and Green- and NO Abhiyans/awareness programmes/Marathons/walkathons to spread the message of Cleanliness will serve the purpose.
Also Read Related Article:
- Kadri Residents Appreciate the ‘Clean Up’ Work by Ramakrishna Math Volunteers
- They Come to Eat ‘Ice Cream’ Which’s ‘Natural’, & Litter ‘Waste’ in the Area Which’s ‘Natural’ Too?
- Swachh M’luru, What? ‘Natural’ Ice Cream Clients Spoil ‘Natural’ Ice Cream Clients Spoil ‘Natural’ Beauty of City
- Website Impact! Naturals Ice Cream places Dustbins to Dispose Trash
The sense of cleanliness and hygiene needs to be inculcated in the minds and hearts of children from infancy. But this does not happen in most of the households, because in our culture, we think that cleaning is the servant’s job. As long as we don’t own up cleaning our environs as a personal responsibility, we can’t expect for the situation to change for the better. Only way forward is to include cleanliness in the School curriculum from very early stage of schooling, and doing this in practical ways, so that the kids would learn this as a way of… Read more »
The business of keeping an area of a city or a town clean has two sides. First the Municipality should install sufficient garbage bins in all public places such Bus Stations, Bus Stops, Train Stations, Rick Stands, Taxi Stands, Movie Halls, Parks, and on all main roads. This being done, People must be educated in the benefit of disposing off garbage properly. Then the Municipality sweep and clean all the main and bye-lanes on a every day basis. Last resort, impose heavy penalty on those found littering – even the poor litter as they do not want to pay the… Read more »