Tell tale signs at Hapta Kangjeibung : From Sangai Festival to garbage
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 12, 2014 -

'From Sangai Festival to garbage' :: Pix - TSE

Reflects the people and the Government. And when the two get together, the result can be a farcical tragedy.

Hapta Kangjeibung today stands as the mute testimony of an ineffective and ineffectual Government and a people who cannot see beyond their nose.

It was not so long back that the State Government appeared to go all out to ensure that the Manipur Sangai Festival went off without a hitch and was geared up to play host to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Good thing that the Prime Minister was here for only a few hours to attend the closing function of the festival or else it would not have been a comfortable thought for anyone.

After the grandeur and pomp of the ten day festival the venue today stands as a mute spectator to all the garbage and waste that are being dumped so non-chalantly.

Clearly the Swacch Bharat message of the Prime Minister has gone down the drain.

As things stand today, the ground at Hapta Kangjeibung is littered with garbage and all the wastes left by the stall owners, the public and the visitors to the festival.

That this state of affairs still stands more than ten days after the festival should be enough to illustrate the mindsets of the public and the Government alike.

To the stall owners it is more a case of open a stall, put up all the goodies for sale and then pack up and leave after the festival.

For the visitors it is a case of visit the festival, buy things of one’s choice and litter the place.

The less said about the Government and its agencies the better it would be. A clear indication that the people and the Government are yet to develop any sense on what organising a festival at the State level is all about.

It should be clear that the success and failure of a State level festival like the annual Sangai Festival should not be seen only through the prism of how it is conducted but also on how the venue is treated after the festival is over.

The garbage and rubbish piled up at the venue ten days after the festival tell a significant tale.

Public property, Hapta Kangjeibung is, but this is no reason at all to leave it as if there is no one to look after it.

It is this mindset which has literally turned all the nullahs, khongbans and public places into dumping grounds.

Time for the Government and the people to come around to the idea that hosting a festival does not end the day the festival draws to a close.

There is the job of ensuring that no tell tales dirt and rubbish are left after the festival but unfortunately this universal thought process has obviously not dawned on the suited, booted people in the corridors of power.

Likewise it is also important to keep in mind that the people too have a certain responsibility in keeping the environs spic and span.

In many ways the dirt and garbage piled up at the festival venue is also a testimony that no thoughts were given on how to regulate the visitors and ensure that they do not litter the place.

True dustbins and dumping sites may have been put in place, but at the same time there was no regulatory mechanism to ensure that the visitors dumped all their wastes at the designated places.

An insult it is to the spirit of the festival and in many ways it is the Government and the people who are responsible for heaping on the insults.