Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India only in IT competing with other cities in the world. This is only in IT and not in any other terms such as Infrastructure, Governance and above all Cleanliness.
One thing is the Government Authorities such as BBMP do not maintain the city clean, due to the kind of people who are ruling in BBMP.
Second reason is our people themselves. We have very bad habits of spitting on the road side, cleaning running noses, urinating in 'orphan' walls etc..etc.. the list goes endless. Especially the bus stops become a place for spitting. People waiting for the buses keep on spitting, cleaning running noses etc. This also demotes usage of public transport due to the unhygenic conditions of bus stops. Along with that, the conductor apply saliva to the ticket to take it out from the bunch. Autowalah will be spitting regularly out of auto. BMTC passengers spit out from the window spraying on two wheelers and pedestrains.
All the boards are of waste. If someone advices not to spit or clean, unwanted arguments starts.
The reason for opening this blog is to have a discussion on how to improve the city by preventing these nuisances, how to educate people and make our city much more cleaner.
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Many do not have toilets/ Construction workers worse condition
Many houses in Bangalore do not have toilet yet. Especially the construction workers who come from outside do not have toilets in the temporary sheds.
This makes many open fields filthy and makes the surrounding areas smelly especially when winds are blowing.
BBMP should ensure the open fields are without grass and maintained clean to avoid people without toilets using it and ensure cleaner public toilets unlike current Nirmala or Sulabh.
how to educate people to be clean? dream on!!
I think it is a hurculean and almost impossible task :-). Some people may not like my tongue in cheek comment and may think i am negative. But teaching civic sense to Indians and making Indian cities clean is an impssible task much like trying to do the following -
- trying to clean up the gun culture of US of A and reducing gun violence :-).
- or...trying to fix the primary education in US of A and trying to churn out engineers like India does.
What's my point? ...well each country has it's issues, where some of the issues are impossible to tackle and change. In india, cleanliness and civic sense is one such issue which is beyond hope. It (lack of civic sense and dirty public spaces) is very much ingrained in our culture and will take 100s of years to change.
But, of course...we can't accept defeat...we can make a start and the start has to be at the home and the school. Here are some suggestions
1) Praja members can form home owners associations in their respective areas. They can ensure proper door do door garbage collections in their areas and have the association fine residents who flout rules.
Typically for rules to be followed, there has to be a consequence for flouting rules; typically, in india there are no consequences for one's actions. Elsewhere, (US for example) the home owners association can fine residents for gross violations and non payment of HOA dues & fines is linked to attachment of the property. Even though this(attachment/seizure of property) rarely happens actually; it is enough of a deterrent for people (Indians included :-) ) to fall in line.
2) children in schools should be educated more on these civic sense issues. If these very children can exell in maths & sciences...going on to become leaders of global corporations etc.....i am sure we can definitely make a difference in civic sense and cleanliness around us.
3) Change laws so that construction zones would have to mandatorily provide portable toilets. Fine builders and seize properties that do not do this.
Finally, last but not the least, coming to this point made by Vasant in his original post -
>>All the boards are of waste. If someone advices not to spit or clean, unwanted arguments starts. The reason for opening this blog is to have a discussion on how to improve the city by >>preventing these nuisances, how to educate people and make our city much more cleaner.
My retort would be, can you ever teach a donkey not to kick? By culture, by habit, by nature..a donkey kicks. So, aren't these..some basic habits/manners that are essential for a person's grooming? This is something that has to start at home and be taught. How can we teach others or change an entire country on these basics!!!..only in our dreams.
@blrpraj Good points
I am trying my bit as per suggestion #1. But we cant force anyone. Just following The Ugly Indian's policy "Muh band kaam chaalu". Wishing myself all the best :)
Ugly Indians - Great Work
@Bheema, good work by Ugly Indians.
We also have to do "Mooh Bandh" of those who continously spit in the bus stops and public places. How do we go about it? Should we make the organizations like BBMP to put posters educating not to spit in bus stops and parks? How about TV ads in popular channels such as TV9, Chandhana etc.
@vasanth
No TV ad will work. I have seen even man-handling of such (spitting by birthright) "raja/rani"s does not work. Probably a spitoon assistant should follow them on 24*7 basis :)