Itanagar managed to shrug-off its ‘dirty’ tag as it inched to spot number 216 as one among the cleanest cities of India and 7^th in Northeast in the Swachh Survekshan survey 2017. This is no diminutive turnaround for a city which garnered much embarrassment in 2016 as it was the third dirtiest city in the country.

Swachh Survekshan consists of 2000 marks with different components like door-to-door collection, transportation, processing and disposal, toilets, information, education and behaviour change, capacity building, etc. There is no doubt that the Itanagar Municipal Council must be credited for the feat despite being plagued by serious problems itself such as fund and resource crunch.

But this is really no time to become complacent and pat ourselves because frankly the realization of a truly clean city is still a distant dream.

If the administration is struggling to manage the huge garbage problem, there is also much to be desired from citizens who spit, litter and relieve in public without an iota of care. Cleanliness much more than simple garbage management it is more importantly about mindsets and attitudes.

Desperate times calls for desperate measures. It is time for the administration to take a call. Littering, spitting, defecating and urinating in the open are socially accepted and unashamedly rampant because no one gets reprimanded for doing so.

Singapore is bent on maintaining its reputation of being impeccably clean, with an active campaign against littering and stringent enforcement in place. They have penalty in place for first time offenders who throw small items like cigarette butts or candy wrappers. However, those who throw out bigger items like drink cans or bottles are considered defiant and are required to appear before the court. The punishment usually involves a Corrective Work Order (CWO), where the offenders clean up a specified area while wearing a bright luminous green vest. The CWO was implemented in the hopes of making offenders realize the hardship cleaners have to go through to keep the surroundings clean, and to make them understand just how unsightly litter is. It is also admittedly aimed at publicly shaming the offenders to ensure that they don’t regress to being a litterbug again.

Taking a cue from our Asian neighbour, there must be zero tolerance towards such actions here as well.

---

Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

<< Back to News List