NAGPURIANS have evolved their own garbage-disposal system over the years. This system is working wonderfully well. Those who use this system are happy. Those who don’t also are happy because that system does not interfere with their lives. So successful is this system of garbage-disposal that even the civic authorities are happy to allow it to persist.

 

The outcome: A great win-win situation for all -- ‘I-am-happy-you-are-happy-all-are-happy’ scenario. The great city of Nagpur and its great citizens are very happy that without any effort, at least 25% of the city’s garbage is disposed of without any fuss, without rancour on anybody’s part. Wow ! However, this has come at an expense. Indirectly, the city is paying a heavy and bad price for this terrific garbage-disposal system -- though nobody seems to be bothered about it, including the general public, the civic authorities, the political leadership. But what is the loosefooter talking about ? Why does he not talk straight about whatever he wishes to say ? So, friends, let us face facts as those are: A great number of our people dump massive quantities of garbage straight into what we call Naag River on a daily basis, on a day-in and day-out basis, round the clock -- all localities, posh ones and the slums. Let us stand near any bridge across the Naag River in any locality for some time to watch how this great garbage-disposal system operates. In a few minutes, we will see some or the other person or persons bringing loads of garbage in different containers and emptying the filthy content straight into the Naag River below -- over the bridge parapet walls, or down the side-wall that lines the course of the Naag Rive, or down the side-slopes where the side-wall is broken ... !

 

This activity goes on quite shamelessly, quite brazenly, in broad daylight or the twilight in the evening or morning -- absolutely anytime. There is no one to accost those who dump those dirty loads into the River. There is no fear of the law. What is visible is utter shamelessness. Just bend over the bridge parapet wall, and you will find massive mountains of filth piled up -- not cleared for possibly for months, years. Of course, the civic authorities do indulge in cosmetic exercises of cleaning up of the course of Naag River in a sporadic manner. They lower those heavy excavator machines down into the course of the river and try to heave out mountains of filth and garbage. Then the newspapers publish those pictures in their columns. And the citizens feel that the civic administration is doing a good job. This all tantamounts to fooling ourselves, though. Factually, everybody knows what is happening. Everybody knows how the administration is indulging in deception.

 

The administration, too, knows that the people of Nagpur are least interested in keeping the Naag River clean. And because the people are unbothered, the political leadership, too, keep up the habit of dishing out promises about how they are acquiring funds for the rejuvenation of the Naag River, and how the River would start blossoming in full flow in a short while. And of course, everybody in the city has made it convenient to forget that honourable Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi had announced about two-and-a-half years ago a project for Naag River rejuvenation. The leadership of the city -- political and administrative -- has managed to hoodwink even the honourable Prime Minister in this regard. True, we are limiting this discourse only to the Naag River. But the city also has two other Rivers -- the Pili and the Pohra. Their story is no different from the one of the Naag. Let alone some stray and occasional efforts to clean up the rivers that were once the city’s lifelines, its signatures, what is in evidence is a massive official and popular negligence of the city’s natural gifts. The loosefooter does hear from time to time that the Maharashtra Government and the Nagpur Municipal Corporation is soon going to launch river-cleansing and rejuvenation projects and surveys are going on in that regard and tenders would soon be floated for the works once the surveys are complete. At least until this moment, these are only rumours -- floated officially, and lapped up by the media without any serious questioning of the motive and the mode of doing things. n