Bye law to keep Imphal spic : Disposal, the key word
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 10, 2012 -

Garbage piled up in Imphal :: Pix - TSE

In many ways, the dirt and garbage piled up in the heart of Imphal, the roads that go from dusty to slushy, depending on when the sky opens up, the clogged drains (read khongbans) in each and every leikai and leirak, the stomach churning stench from the rotting filth all reflect the mentality and character of the people and the Government.

Imphal is not without its share of unique characters. Kangla which stands plum in the heart of the capital city, to the east of National Highway-2 and west of Imphal river, has a history of its own.

Ima Keithel is a unique landscape, reflecting the position and status of women in the social and economic hierarchy of the land, the BT Park has a history of its own and so is the Nupi Lan complex.

All these unique characteristics however pale into the oblivion when contrasted with the stark reality that while Imphal has all the hallmarks associated with urban decay, there are no corresponding amenities identified with an urban area such as reliable power supply, water supply and functional civic bodies at the grass root level.

Flash floods continue to be a defining aspect of the capital city and if it is not flash flood then expect the stench filling the air as the piled up and unmoved garbage begin to rot under the hot summer sun.

The Imphal Municipal Council has always been in the news for all the wrong reasons down the years and this is a damning statement on where the priority of keeping Imphal healthy lies exposed like an ugly truth. If memory serves us right, it was only some years back that the then Congress led SPF Government made a huge show of banning plastics in Imphal.

Flashy drives were conducted in the heart of the capital city, under the full glare of the media, but today the clogged drains, the piling garbage of plastics and other non- bio-degradable items stand as the mute testimony of how it was all fire and brimstone without any substance.

The lesson should not be lost on us and that is, the Government and its agencies should stop playing to the gallery and seriously get down to the business of executing their work and efficiently at that.

The Imphal Municipal Council Bye Law (Cleanliness and Sanitation) 2011 has already been published in the State Gazette and while this is a welcome move, it however remains to be seen whether this will have any positive impact on the place or not.

Adhocism or a knee jerk response to a situation is not what is warranted here. The need to keep Imphal spic and span should be driven by a long term vision.

The Municipal Bye Law which has been included in the State Gazette cannot be seen in isolation of the many projects taken up in the capital city.

This is where the process of covering up the Naga Nullah along Nagamapal, the Nambul project as well as the never ending Imphal Sewerage Project become important to the very idea of implementing the Municipal Bye Law.

The Bye-Law and all the projects should complement each other. That littering Imphal with plastics and non-bio-degradable objects would sound the death knell of the very process of covering up Naga Nullah is a foregone conclusion.

It is flummoxing to see that no provisions have been incorporated in the Naga Nullah project for water to flow in naturally when it rains from the Nagamapal stretch of the road.

This in effect could mean creating yet another avenue for artificial floods to wreak havoc along this stretch. We are no experts in urban planning, but am airing some common sense, which it appears is not very common in the corridors of power.

Collecting garbage from the commercial areas pre-supposes the existence of a dumping site and we hope the Municipal Bye-Law has taken care of this or else the very process of picking up and clearing the garbage will stand defeated. One cannot remove dirt from one place and dump it at another in the name of urban planning.

Disposal is the key word here. Apart from the penalties being mooted on defaulters, the Government should seriously get down to the business of strictly enforcing a ban on the use of certain types of plastic carry bags, convenient though they are.