During this festive
time of the year, the
city takes on a new look.
With the ensuing Christmas and New Year, it has been a trend to organise cleaning drives in every locality in the city. The Dorbar Shnong takes the lead along with other social organizations to clean up their respective localities. The cleaning drive sees participation by household members, children and elders of the locality.
A quintessential example of community participation, this type of locality cleaning is typical of the State.
A senior resident observed that this type of community participation should be emulated every couple of months.
He is echoed by another resident who said, “We only remember great personalities during their birth and death anniversaries. In the same way these cleaning drives only take place ahead of the Xmas and New Year.”
There are many residents who said that in the face of increasing population, pollution and the growing filth in the city, the Dorbar along with other local authorities should organize such drives on a regular basis.
Almost every locality in the town is on a cleaning drive spree these days. These cleaning drives are earmarked mostly on weekends to maximize participation.
An office bearer of the Mawlai Nongkwar Dorbar Shnong said that generally Saturdays are earmarked for such cleaning drives since schools and offices are generally closed and the drive can be executed successfully.
The General Secretary of the Keating Road Welfare Organization also highlighted the same point, while adding that the success of a cleaning drive depends on 100% community participation.
However, the picture is not entirely rosy.
Every time a cleaning drive is organised in a locality the waste generated is left on the roadsides and they are no disposed off quickly, many residents observed.
“In such a situation all the good work gets undone since the accumulated waste is strewn all over by vehicles, pedestrians and stray dogs,” a resident of Malki said. His views were endorsed by several other persons from different localities.
Another flip side to the cleaning drives is that on most occasions, volunteers put barricades and block the road for traffic leading to severe discomfort for commuters.
Many residents called up The Shillong Times with complaints that during the recent cleaning drives in Jaiaw and Keating Road localities, the road was blocked for several hours and uninformed commuters had to suffer a lot due to the blockade.
One such commuter, while explaining his predicament, said that such cleaning drives are needed in the city but the least the locality heads can do is to publicize the dates of the cleaning drives so that others are not made to suffer.
(Rajib Roy)