Clean Cities — still a dream?
All of us love living in lush green cities, but do we have a say in the way our cities are designed, maintained and foreseen?
In India, I have lived in cities such as Kochi, Bhopal, Mumbai, Elavinthitta(a small town/city in Kerala), and sadly, in each of these cities, waste management was less to almost non-existing. If I were to rate them from 1(least organised) to 5(most), it would be Elavinthitta, Kochi — 1, Bhopal — 2, Mumbai — 3. Let’s take a look at each one. I’ll share what’s wrong and what CAN be done instead.
1. Bhopal — the city of Lakes.
My birthplace. I spent more than 7 years there and we have always seen the truck that took away our waste taxing the roads along with us in the midst of crazy traffic. But if you were to ask any household if they ever segregated their waste — they would all answer, “No”.
Cows were a common sight in Bhopal but sadly we not only saw women feeding them leftover food but also saw several of them grazing at the garbage dumps. I’m not sure if we tracked how many stray animals died of eating plastic waste from those garbage heaps or if anyone cared enough to even notice them.
