One dustbin could go a long way
Men may come and men may go, but litter stays forever — this perhaps could be one way of describing how Saturday’s political festivity outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Shillong went by.
It is customary in our city for crowds to leave behind scraps after a big gathering anywhere and Saturday’s occurrence may not come as a surprise to many.
Most will just shake their heads in disdain and forget it, but the SJ team would like to take this opportunity to spread awareness on keeping Shillong clean.
Time and again it’s been said — ‘do not litter your surroundings’, ‘treat your surroundings like your home’.
Now it’s time that the people understand the repercussions of their acts. It not only sends a bad message but also dents the image of the state, which is still believed to be cleaner than its peers.
On top of that, the litter stays there and becomes an eyesore for passersby.
The reproach for wrong doers as well as the authorities weighs just the same, for if some of the people that thronged the place on Saturday wanted to actually throw the wastes in a dustbin, our city lacks the sheer numbers.
Dustbins should ideally be spread across the cityscape but they’re missing from the picture; in some locations, even if one finishes walking a whole stretch of a road, a dustbin is so rare to find.
So what does one do if there are not dustbins? It certainly isn’t right to dump waste anywhere, so what is the answer?
Will streetlights show the way?
Streetlights are one of the most basic and functional facilities for any society but you’ll find almost the entire city complaining about either their sorrow state or blatant absence.
Time and again, Shillong has been promoted as progressing towards becoming a Smart City. However, years have passed and a pitfall as simple as streetlights is yet to find its objective.
Only recently, streetlights in many locations were repaired and renovated under the much-vaunted Smart City project, but areas like IGP, DC’s office and Ward’s Lake continue to speak a grim tale as the renovated streetlights appear to have gone kaput in a span of a few months.
Despite some of the most important establishments being located in the vicinity, some residents feel the area is not well looked after.
High mast lights, installed at several junctions located in different parts of the city, do not seem to work — at Motphran, Fire Brigade, Rilbong junction or even the Rhino point junction, these lights continue to remain non-functional.
Some of the high mast lights have remained dead for years but it seems the authorities are doing too little to keep the cityscape illuminated at night.