Meghalaya’s capital Shillong is facing a monumental problem with three of its major rivers being assaulted from several quarters. They have not only been reduced in size on account of encroachments but have also become a convenient place to dump garbage; for direct discharge of septic tanks; for washing vehicles et al. The same rivers are also used by children of a lesser god for washing clothes since they don’t have piped water in their homes. Garbage is a modern scourge. There was a time when wet kitchen waste was managed within residential premises. Now even that goes to garbage dumps.
There is a tendency to blame the Government for everything including the poor garbage management when in fact there are a multiplicity of institutions looking after this aspect and the citizen’s own responsibility to ensure that he/she disposes garbage where it is supposed to be which is in the garbage collection trucks. Residents have been given a blue and green container for dry and wet waste respectively. But even this basic civic sense is missing. When the wet waste is collected and dumped at Marten for processing the workers there have to segregate polythene bags and other plastic and metal pieces. Why can’t citizens follow even this simple rule? Why is there a need to police each and every activity? Where does the responsibility of the citizen begin and end? These are issues that need to be thrashed out in every Dorbar Shnong/locality.
Time has come when residents should begin to take responsibility for their waste. In fact, dumping of waste anywhere and everywhere and especially in rivers should be criminalised as the very act is intended to first choke the river and ultimately kill it. Citizens’ initiatives are so few and far between in this city. Yet this same city was once known as the educational hub of the North East. Shillong city has the largest number of educational institutions and the educated residing in it. What is the education system conveying when the primary responsibility of managing one’s own garbage is amiss? Clearly the education system has failed to inculcate in the young their social responsibility. It would not be wrong to say that the education system has failed miserably in creating civic consciousness in students.
The Government’s role is that of providing a system of waste collection and management. The District Councils which are the custodians of all rivers have to assert themselves to ensure that rivers continue to remain clean and pristine and they should work in conjunction with the government to do so. The Dorbar Shnong too should pool in their efforts and urge the citizenry within their jurisdiction to be responsible for proper disposal of garbage. Convergence is the only mantra that works. The blame game has to end.