Unlike during normal years, this time, civic workers of Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) were a relived lot, as their job was comparatively easy after Dasara, due to scaled-down celebrations, in the wake of the Covid crisis.
Immediately after the Jamboo Savari, on Monday, the pourakarmikas swung into action, to clear the additional garbage of Dasara. However, it was not much, compared to last year.
A section of the citizens opine that the lack of civic sense among the people is a major problem in maintaining cleanliness in Mysuru, which usually tops the list of ‘cleanest’ cities of the nation.
MCC Health Officer Dr D G Nagaraju said that during previous years, additional civic workers were hired on contract, temporarily, for Dasara season, to maintain cleanliness of the city.
“During normal years, two to three tonnes of garbage was generated near the Palace, on the Palace premises on Raja Marga, the Jamboo Savari route, and its surroundings. Comparatively, this year, the garbage generation was negligible, due to simple celebration of Dasara and the restriction of Jamboo Savari within the Palace precincts. As a minimum number of participants were allowed to witness the events, there were not much people on the streets. Even though people came out to enjoy the illumination, they would not spend much time in one place,” he said.
“As the people were not allowed near the Palace, some of them had gathered near Rangacharlu Town Hall, to catch a glimpse of the golden howdah carried by elephant Abhimanyu, where they had littered some waste. However, the pourakarmikas swung into action on Monday night itself, and cleared most of the garbage. The remaining was cleared on Tuesday morning,” he said.
G C Sridhar, a retired government employee, said that virtual Dasara was a boon is disguise as the littering of the city was avoided. “Whether people come to witness Jamboo Savari or not is not the issue. What type of people are they? Can’t they avoid littering around with waste? Are they not ‘citizens’? Can’t they responsibly dispose off the waste into designated garbage bins? Can’t they temporarily keep the waste, either in their pockets or bags, and dispose them responsibly, when they get back home?” he asked.
“Just because we live in an Independent nation, where ‘freedom’ is the foremost right, we cannot take things for granted. We are good in preaching principles, ideologies and morality, with scant regard for them. We describe our nation as motherland and call it ‘Bharath Matha’, meaning ‘Mother Bharath or Goddess Bharath’. But, we happily dirty the goddess. Are we civilised people?” asked M N Somasekhar, a schoolteacher.