Why do we dump our garbage on the roads?

inam ul rehman 

We are a strange race in Kashmir. Constructing houses is our first priority. But we design our roofs, and ramps for the vehicles in such a way that we make sure that rainwater, snow should fall on the road because road belongs to the public. We eat number of things then dump their wrappers on the road. We are so proud of it that in the morning, instead of doing walk, we take the garbage of our houses and throw it on the roadside and then swagger as if we have conquered the Mt Everest. We don’t care because the road belongs to the public. Whatever is public it is the responsibility of the government to fix it. Isn’t it how we think? 

 

So goes our argument. Because over the years we have learnt that only two persons are responsible for all the mess that we are in: God, and government.

 

The snow that accumulates during winters in our backyards we push that out on the roads. All our neighbours, shopkeepers compete in this. In civilised nations people clear the road for the public, here we dump things on the road.  We are such a race that instead of keeping roads wide open we encroach it. Instead of keeping roads clean we dump all our garbage on the roads. No one can match our talent in encroaching roads, littering it with refuses. We are not ready to shell Rs 100, or 50 for a month to any sweeper who will keep our homes clean. We consider it our birth right to dump every refuse on the road. 

Then, as is our wont, we blame the government for rise in the canine population. 

 

We are legends when it comes to parking vehicles. We park wherever we like. Even if we have to buy a month’s grocery, we park our vehicles on the middle of the road. It does not matter that we are blocking the flow of traffic on the road. Urban, rustic, educated, illiterate, young, old, men, women, we all park our vehicles this way.  We berate administration’s inaction but never question ourselves. 

 

Think, just for a few moments, of roads without any refuse, roads without any encroachment, roads without dogs. Think how our Kashmir would look if we refuse to dump our junk on the roads.  

We always demand rights but never talk of responsibilities we have.       

 

Remember, eternal changes come from the grassroots not from the top-down approach.