Recently, we read about a rift between the mayor and municipal commissioner over the garbage collection contract. As an upshot the mayor has put on hold the garbage issue, which is raising a stink, literally, at Devaraja Market. On a visit yesterday I found trash everywhere, even on Sayyaji Rao Road. Stench was unbearable.
Isn’t there a simple solution for garbage clearance? Or does it have to wait till the mayor and commissioner sort out their differences ?
Snag is those who could come up with a solution think of themselves only as commissioner, mayor, ruling party or opposiion councllors, MLAs, and not as residents. Of course contractors come from Mars, and can't be expected to focus on anything other than the fine print on the contract. You know Pratibha, they have noses that are immune to stench.
Traders can organize the clearing job themselves, at least temporarily, but in this country we always want the Government to provide a solution. The tenants ignore the stench and don't think that there may be a loss of business because of this. The MCC Commissioner and the mayor have too big egos and that comes in the way of any solution. The citizens are stuck between a rock and a hard place (I leave it to everyone's imagination as to who is the rock and who is the hard place). If the tenants association thought of the D'Market as their own and that they are one of the stake holders of the place, then why think like they are not a part of the Market when it comes to getting their own surroundings clean? They should take the initiative. Some people want to have their cake and eat it too.
Pratibha's letter about the garbage situation in Star of Mysore (Voice of the reader) dated 25th Feb is a welcome one. I thought that the editors note was somewhat vague and utopian. He's been living in India all his life and should realize that changing people here into becoming conscious about littering is a dream. I wouldn't take his note to heart. I think we should continue to blog, write letters and keep the issue alive in the minds of the readers and thats how some awareness can be created. Having said that, SOM has a reputation of publishing letters without any bias and thats a good thing. The idea is that issues such as this is not given a quiet burial and something is done about it. If we have to shame the Authorities (I don't know if they have any sense of shame!) into doing something, the battle is half won.
The reality is that the garbage build up is a situation. Such things can cause an epidemic. Dr. Shenoy has been complaining rightly against the MCC on many issues (see the budget topic), where does the money go?
