Solid Waste Management

Sir,
This refers to your editorial Solid Waste Management (DE Oct 11th). Waste Management needs a behavioral change and till date we haven’t been able to change our behaviourvis a vis waste management. We want to keep courtyard of our house clean because we have its ownership , but when it comes to the street nearby we are least bothered to do so. We have not developed a self of belonging towards our roads, water bodies or parks. That is why we clean our house , courtyard and then throw the trash on road side , water-body or into an open plot located in our mohalla or colony.
To get rid of these shabby habits we need to work a lot as these shameful acts have unfortunately become part of our life. I often see educated people throwing ice-cream rapper out of car on the road side so casually. I feel this is a criminal act , but the person who does it takes it casually. The reason is littering is part of his / her behavior. To control littering , open urination / defecation, unnecessary use of plastic / polythene needs lots of efforts. There is a great role of social and religious organizations in creating behavioral change in society. Authorities must allocate enough funds in this direction. Unless we change our behavior , we won’t be able to achieve better results vis a vis waste management. I urge upon Rural Development Department (RDD) , Municipalities and educational institutions to work in this direction. Information Education and Communication (IEC) activities have to be rigorously put into action to create behavioral change. Government alone cannot do anything. Today Indore is the cleanest city in the country, the reason is not that local municipal authority has done some magic , but the local residents have been involved in the initiative of swachh Indore campaign. If we want to see Swachh Srinagar or Jammu people must come forward and play their role
Dr FoziaKouser
Srinagar