SHILLONG, Feb 21: In a bid to clean up the rivers of Shillong, Operation Clean-Up (OCU) was started in 2019 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of The Shillong Times. The team comprises students of KC Secondary School, Bethany Society, Seven Set School, KL Bajoria College, Women’s College, Martin Luther Christian University, Team Jiva, MakeSomeoneSmile, Cleansmann, Project Clean Surroundings, Naga Students’ Union Shillong, Col Shishupal Security Company and other concerned individuals.
For several months the team tried to not just clean the rivers but to also create awareness among those living alongside the rivers why it is important to keep the rivers clean.
Resuming their clean-up routine after a hiatus of a few months on account of the pandemic, the Operation Clean-Up team decided to tackle the garbage piled up along the entire area of Golf Links, especially the trenches around the golf course which have turned into garbage dumps.
While it can be conceded that the trenches which fall along the thoroughfares would become dustbins for passers-by without a conscience or care for the environment, what shocked the team was that the areas in the vicinity of the Golf Club was littered with bottles, plastic bags clothes, household garbage et al.
But that’s not the only eyesore. A broken commode was thrown behind the Golf Club canteen.
And while the golfers were informed about the clean-up and one or two members joined the self-appointed scavengers, the rest could not see beyond the ball and their game.
What’s worse is that some kind of dirty rivulet turned drain also passes through the edges of the course and it is littered with bottles and plastics but the golfers happily walked past it without a care or concern, their eyes fixated on the golf ball.
But even while the golfers are hitting the ball, this reporter came across several young men who were sprawled on the meadow. After eating their packaged food (chips) they threw the wrapper right there for someone else to pick it up.
The Operation Clean-up team were surprised to find the local liquor pouches that they are used to picking up around the Umkaliar River, being strewn around the golf meadows too.
This reporter asked some golfers why they did not join the cleaning drive; after all it’s like someone is cleaning our home and we are happily looking on.
To that the golfers replied that they were having their own cleaning drive the next day i.e. Sunday.
Several questions arise about the once famous Shillong Golf Course. Who takes ownership of this playground of the rich and famous in the morning hours and the hoi-polloi in the day time and well into the night? Is there a golf course anywhere in the world which is a free-for-all picnic space cum playground cum open bar cum gambling den? Then why does that happen only in Shillong?
It is learnt that politics has muddied the golf course and made it impossible to mend all that has gone wrong. The golfers believe it is not their business to keep the course clean since they have paid their dues to the Golf Club. But their apathy is appalling.
While the game was going on some golfers decided to take a break to have their breakfast in the meadows under the pine trees. The canteen man and caddies had to carry tables, chairs and food to the outdoors. After the breakfast was done the thermocol plates and cups were discarded right there for someone else to pick up.
Badal Prasad a young student of BSc Nursing in NEIGRIHMS who has been attending the cleaning drive regularly, while picking up the plastic wrappers and bottles from the dirty rivulet said, “If this little stream was to have been in Japan we would have had fishes swimming, not plastics choking up the poor stream.”
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Deputy Commissioner, East Khasi Hills had called a meeting of stakeholders to give the Shillong Golf Course a facelift. A person who is involved in regularly clean-ups across the city says, “Let’s see if the DC succeeds in tackling this monumental challenge. She should take time off to play golf so she gets to see the ugly underbelly of the Golf Course.