By: QUYIMA ASLAM
In our private realm, things are clean, safe and are in apple pie order, but outside everything is in contrast to it. Roads are dotted with garbage, paths are littered, water bodies are shrinking due the waste dumping and every nook and corner has become a trashing site with scores of caninesroaming around. Our beautiful valley is getting buried in its own garbage as huge quantity of solid waste generated daily is never picked up and poisons the surroundingsbesides shabby and calamitous appearance.
Have we ever wondered why all this is happening or who is responsible for this? It’s hard to digest but the reason behind it is we the masses living here. We believe in personnel hygieneand keep ourselves and our homes clean and it’s an irony that we just consider that mere four walled structure our home. We consider it as our right to throw anything on streets, as long as it does not affect us. We people are suffering from “not in my backyard syndrome” because of which we lack sense of belongingness towards our society and I think this is the main and major cause of civic uncleanliness.
We have the attitude that why bother if my waste thrown on streets spoils the environment or my neighbors surrounding. We are so driven towards our personal goals that civic sense as an ethic has become a low priority, almost nuisance. Has it ever come to our mind that these roads are not dirty because nobody cleaned them, but they are strewn with garbage because we threw the muck in the first place?
Being civilised is much more than just living in cities, having computers at home or cell phones in our pockets. Why think that we are a developed society and culture when we are deprived of our ethical approach and score a big zero when it comes to civic sense. With every passing day, civic sense in masses seems to deteriorate;no one is to be blamed but ourselves for this condition. At home or in work places, we put the waste in the bin and also expect others to do so but overlook it when we throw it on the road.It’s because of our sheer ignorance that our valley- the Venice of East- has now become a trash valley.
If this rampant dumping continues, we will soon call our wetlands as dumping yards, our rivers and streams will just look like shabby clogged drains and our luscious green meadows will be terra firma with pungent fumes and hazardous chemicals oozing all around. Everybody thinks that it’s not their duty to keep the surroundings clean. It is easy to pin everything on government but people must first question themselves and their civic sense. I think civic body and citizens share equal responsibility for things like the civic or public uncleanliness. Civic sense or rather the lack of it has been widely discussed and somehow it is an undisputed fact that people don’t seem to care much for it. We should realize that civic sense is as important as protection against fire. The latter harms us directly whereas lack of knowledge of civic sense can or has proved catastrophic for society. No one is born civilised. It’s a struggle and a sense that makes one more civilised and full of good etiquettes and yeah never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the scenario, it’s the only thing that ever has. So, let’s ought to learn to be a good citizen.
The writer is a Student of Environmental Science, Cluster University,Srinagar. twitter@quyimaaslam
