Did the heading come as a surprise? Wasn’t a cover story done last month with the same heading? So why repeat? Well, the cover story was written by Indrani Mukherjee last month on how all of us are proud of the theme park Ved Van that has come up in our Sector. But sadly, it’s not a proud moment this time.
Some of our editors were pained to see the littering that has started taking place in the park.
Ved Van Park, as everyone knows, showcases a variety of attractions including laser and sound shows, as well as wall paintings and sculptures featuring excerpts from the four Vedic literary works: Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda. The place is home to over 50,000 plants, such as banyan, kalpavriksha, and coconut, which have been mentioned in Vedic literature. But now the park also has a lot of plastic bottles and empty wrappers thrown around. Another complaint that comes from none other than the architect of the park herself is that people sit or lean on the artefacts and sculptures to pose for clicking pictures.
The most commonly found violation of civic sense is our sick habit of throwing the litter around. This happens even where dustbins are placed. Perhaps this bad habit of not throwing litter in bins but in open spaces is formed in childhood when parents and school should inculcate in children the habit of keeping not only their house clean but their surroundings as well. Gandhi has taught us ‘for cleanliness we should not depend on others but rather follow it as a ‘do it yourself’ duty to self’. He rightly said cleanliness is next to ‘Godliness’. Sadly people of Gandhi’s country evade this duty while it is religiously followed in other countries.
We all wish to live in a clean environment but do very little to maintain it.
The Authority has employed sweepers to pick up the litter (thrown by irresponsible people) especially plastics and polythene in the park and the green areas so that greenery does not get spoiled. Also, guards have been employed to keep a check. Do we need to depend on a sweeper or guards to keep our environment clean? Is not it a shame for us?
As responsible citizens we must all develop a sense of ownership for our common civic facilities. An ownership not in the way to use and abuse them as we like but an ownership wherein we take care of and maintain these facilities like we would maintain our homes. And if some of us need a motivation to do so, just remember that these facilities are made from the tax paid by us from our hard earned money.
