Editorial: Let’s Not Litter, We Are Already Ugly Enough

When they experimented with MG Marg, the policy-makers had hoped that the litter & spit free zone would eventually encompass all of Gangtok, and if that happened, dream even bigger and extend it to all of Sikkim. Wishful thinking, one can now say with the benefit of hindsight [the MG Marg effort is now some years in the past]. In a town where the residents continue live comfortably in the company of stinking jhoras which they themselves have clogged with all types of household refuse and even the occasional sewage release, cleanliness around public spaces is perhaps too much to expect. Gangtokians might live in pine-wood panelled houses that they themselves rub with mansion polish every day, but are oblivious to their civic duties as they prove with clockwork regularity as the corners and roadsides continue to mimic public dustbins. This, despite a functional garbage collection service in place. Gangtok is admittedly a much cleaner town than most others in the country, but that should not be any consolation because with even a few collaborative efforts, this town could be much better. A keener sense of responsibility towards public spaces would help and the right awareness at the school level could easily address the problem of irresponsible littering. It is after all not enough to reach a garbage bag to the UDHD trucks in the morning and then spend the rest of the day littering the town with wrappers and other refuse.
What is required is an attitudinal shift which displays more collective consideration. At present, house-owners in general for example are lavish with space for their own accommodation, but cramp the floors below with pigeonholes and common toilets and bathrooms. Stuck in a traffic-jam, Gangtok drivers will not make a mental note to be more considerate of vehicles behind when they stop to pick up a passenger or make a U-turn, but will blare away on their horns when they are confronted with similar insensitivity, displaying an impatience that is fast becoming a universal affliction of the capital. This mindset, which disregards common intent or pursuits, continues to rear up in all engagements and personal aggrandisement thus becomes a driving force. An immediate fall out of this has been the noticeable rollback in aesthetic nuances. Aesthetic appeal is after all for public consumption and extravagance for personal consumption. No prizes here for guessing which option Gangtok takes on a daily basis. Bigger cars, higher buildings and increased consumption have left Gangtok an ugly town. Take any by-lane and one will be confronted with innumerable case-studies of how private greed has encroached upon public space and convenience. The capital is exploding with private decisions thumbing their collective noses at public courtesies. Even public spaces reflect this indifference with the slew of multi-storeyed car parks and shopping complexes, whatever their utility, presenting perhaps the ugliest creations of concrete.
With too much ugliness already permanent in the form of concrete, the least that can be done is to leave the open spaces [which are mostly the roads and shortcuts now in Gangtok] free of litter. Maybe starting with this conscious effort, Gangtok could begin the process of becoming and town more becoming of its hill station status...