Of the lack of cultural sophistication

 

 

THE municipal authorities in Nagpur were seen engaged in a drive to book people who spit in public places or urinated anywhere at will or threw domestic waste and other garbage in open spaces. In one single day, as the reports have us believe, the authorities booked as many as 96 cases and collected a fine of Rs. 46,000/- All this sounds good, so to say ! Yet, given the size of the Second Capital of Maharashtra, the achievement should be termed as very small. For, anyone can see literally hundreds of people spitting at any time of the day, and urinating in public places. And, in Nagpur, throwing garbage at any place at will is actually a habit stemming from a near-total absence of cultural sophistication or finesse.

 

Haven’t we come across countless numbers of people sticking their necks out from cars and lorries and buses and spitting on roads ? Haven’t we also seen people dumping all sorts of garbage into the rivers -- Naag, Pohra, and Pili -- from bridges ? Such people need to be booked and punished -- and that is why the Nagpur municipal Corporation is statedly doing. The loosefooter welcomes this wholeheartedly. Yet, he has some haunting issues that need a considered response. He insists that such action must be continued all along and in the strictest possible manner. And those who undertake such drives must not spare people from any section of the society -- rich or poor, elite or otherwise, in posh areas or in slums. Anybody -- absolutely anybody -- found spitting in public places (or urinating) must be booked and fined. Also, anybody throwing garbage into water-bodies or public places needs to be punished with a daunting amount of fine. Once such a drive is carried on for, say, one or two years most consistently, then the society will start changing a bit and positively. It must be stated again and again that spitting in public places or throwing garbage anywhere unmindful of civic norms is a matter of absence of cultural finesse of the common people.

 

One senses such a terrible taste in the mouth particularly seeing people spit anywhere. What a filth ! Because there were no serious attempts by the authorities over the years to curb the menace, the habit got more firmly entrenched in popular conduct. Hence the need for a strict, no-nonsense campaign that will be a perennial activity of the civic authorities. In municipal rules, this area is covered under the functioning of the Nuisance Detection Squad. It is good that the civic regulations treat these habits as nuisance. Probably, the civic regulations would have done better by attaching some more serious dimension to spitting and sought to punish the wrong-doers more strictly. Nevertheless, it is good that at least occasionally, the civic authorities carry on with such drives. The only expectation is that such drives do not become part of a cosmetic demonstration of attention to core duties of a civic body, and becomes an integral part of its commitment to general hygiene and public health requirement.