TURA: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be a very happy man if he were to visit Tura this week. He would have been elated to find that during this religious gathering the inhabitants of the small town of Tura, tucked away in a remote corner of the north east and often given a miss by the media, are working out his dream of Swachh Bharat or Clean India.
The sight of decorated walls and manicured streets across Tura would have gladdened his heart that a matter of faith has spurred such collective action.
Heaps of garbage that lay piled up in localities and important points of the town, waiting for the municipal trucks to lift them the next day, have all but disappeared as young boys and girls, supervised by the elders, work in unison to remove any eyesore as the five day religious conference- 145th ABDK Soba, got underway on Wednesday evening.
For many a curious passerby, Tura is now a delightful surprise.
The adage that faith can stir miracles seems to hold true; for while every non-descript wall has become an artist’s delight and a sculptor’s mural and every flowered street seems to be speaking the language of colors.
Gone are the empty plastic containers and disposal cups and bottles that were often strewn all around roadsides becoming a blot on the landscape. For the last couple of days, and down to the eleventh hour, young children carrying bags and carts have been lifting garbage from drains, street corners and dumping them into waiting trucks to be taken away.
“From the impressive and imposing gate welcoming the visitors, to the bridge lined up with decorations, and the roads and walls engraved with sketches and maxims. It is fantastic! Each is a gesture of the collective effort that has gone in to add a sense of gaiety and festivity to this event,” said a group of pilgrims who landed in the town from Guwahati for the Soba on Wednesday morning.
District administration’s slackness ‘hurts’ cleanliness drive!
While the residents of Tura have gone on an overdrive to keep the town clean, the administration, particularly the municipal board, has been seen wanting on this issue.
Neither an otherwise active deputy commissioner nor any official from the municipality has been able to mobilise any enthusiasm to get the streams running through the town clean, leading to many residents to openly complain about the filth in the water.
The streams, once an eyeful and the lifeline of the town have of recent become an eyesore clogged as they are with plastic bottles and garbage putting a blemish into the entire cleanliness drive.
“We have done our bid for the town and even made an effort to remove the garbage from the streams passing through our area. But it is a mammoth task and needs the support of government machinery,” point out the youth engaged in the drive.
“We had cleaned our stream in our locality but garbage continues to flow from the upstream rendering our efforts futile,” said S A Sangma, a youth leader from Lower Mission Compound.