United Colours of Used Clothes Abuse ‘Swachh Mangaluru’ near Town Hall Every Monday Morning
Mangaluru: This morning while I was passing by Kudmul Ranga Rao aka Town Hall, Mangaluru, D M Aslam-the President of Dakshina Kannada Football Association, who was taking his morning exercise walk along with his friend on the footpath adjacent to Town Hall, waved at me and wanted me to stop, which I did, and he explained to me the pathetic and ugly situation of the footpath near Town Hall, scattered with used clothes and rotten fruits and vegetables- aftermath of the street side business by out of town street vendors, who storm Mangaluru every Sunday to do their illegal footpath business. Aslam wanted me to do a write up on this garbage menace, for which I told him that I have done a bunch of articles on the same issue in the past.
And since he made a special request to do one more report, I said that I will do a final one, hoping that at least this time my article would awake everyone in the district administration and Mangaluru City Corporation, who are all boasting about our “SMART CITY-MANGALURU”, but have turned a BLIND-EYE towards Swacchta near Town Hall, even after it was recently named in honor of Kudmul Ranga Rao, as a respect to man who had played an important role in establishing “Depressed Classes Mission” in 1897 in Mangaluru for providing education, better housing, drinking water and empowering the backward classes socially by guarding them against exploitation by upper classes. And while a nice renovated Hall is named after Rao, it’s indeed sad to note that the entrance to the Town Hall is adorned with garbage done by Non-Mangalureans?
And while talking about keeping Mangaluru City Clean by MP, MLC, MLA’s, Ministers and Officials of District Administration and MCC, you will be surprised to see piles of garbage, comprising of old clothes left behind by the out-of-town street vendors, who come down to Mangaluru every Sunday to do their illegal business- and when they go back they leave our City trashed and dirty-and this has been happening not just now, but for months- and MCC has done nothing to stop it. My quite a few efforts in requesting Ramakrishna Mission, Anti-Pollution Drive, Hum Tum- an NGO, Antony Waste Management Cell Pvt Ltd, and MCC to do the needful in putting a stop to this garbage menace, was all in vain. Everyone of these groups/people gave me assurances but no action was taken, whatsoever.
Added to the mess created by other street vendors in the City, here we also have these street vendors who come from Northern part of Karnataka to carry on with their trade selling old clothes/rejected company-branded clothes in the vicinity of Town Hall- and when they go back to their respective places, they leave behind piles of clothes, and other waste, for Pourakarmikas to clean it up on Monday morning. I definitely think is not right, and this has to be stopped, once for all. These street vendors have to clean up their own mess, and not allow others to do it. They should be grateful that MCC is allowing to do their business, but in reply, this is what they do-TRASH THE CITY! But my question is that, why MCC employees have to clean up the mess left behind by the street vendors coming from outside Mangaluru? 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.
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 a business. 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.
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 these street vendors. These vendors need to be warned, and fined if they leave behind garbage after their business. Yes, 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 an 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.
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. And if they still ignore MCC warnings, don’t allow them to do their ugly business in our town. Problem solved. Period.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE PHOTOS
Also, Read Related Articles:
http://www.mangalorean.com/ammaappa-dont-work-mcc-clean-mess/