One hand cleans, the other litters
Municipal work requires concerted efforts from all agencies concerned and members of society. This is very important to make these efforts successful. Whenever there is cooperation among them in keeping residential, commercial, industrial and public places clean, it has positive effects on residents of the locality. In the absence of this cooperation, what we get is just the opposite.
Nobody can deny the significant role being played by municipalities in the country. They collect garbage and clean places and neighbourhoods. Similarly, the efforts made by the company Be’ah in collecting and transporting garbage to the landfills and recycling them cannot be ignored.
However, these efforts cannot be successful without the cooperation of the entire population. There are laws and regulations to punish those who do not cooperate. There are also mechanisms to monitor and control the wrong behaviour of the population as well as owners of stray animals that contribute to scattering of garbage and waste.
It is sad that despite the efforts made by municipal organisations and the opportunities given to them by the state for the purpose, we see that there are those who do exactly the opposite things.
They throw garbage in the streets and public areas, instead of leaving them in the right places. They do not comply with the regulations made for disposal of waste. There are also some people who keep digging the garbage boxes in search of something: papers, boxes, cans of soft drinks and pieces of glass. Also there is no one from among the people to stop them from doing all this.
Municipalities and Be’ah cannot work properly if there is no constructive cooperation from the inhabitants of a locality, at least in the form of disposing waste in places meant for them. It is not a difficult thing to do.
The Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources and the municipalities of Muscat, Dhofar and Sohar should launch comprehensive awareness campaigns on the issue.
They should educate people about the adverse effects of wrongful behaviour in the disposal of waste and its legal consequences. They should urge them to abide by laws and regulations. In the absence of such campaigns, things will not change. Also without this, there will not be proper cooperation of the society, which is a must for the success of the tasks of these government organisations.
There is a need to guide and control such behaviour, which is against the basics of cleanliness. The residents of the localities, parents and guardians should also urge their children, families and maids to adhere to the rules concerning waste and garbage disposal.
They should throw the garbage inside the allocated boxes so that stray animals do not scatter them. Also they should understand the timing of the visits of the waste collection and disposal trucks so that when they throw their garbage in these boxes, they are immediately removed.
Of course, we do not deny that there are people who abide by the rules and regulations and adhere to them. But unfortunately, they are very few. It is just like clapping with one hand, which is not possible.
Everybody in society has to understand his or her responsibility and join hands. Without this, the entire effort will prove futile. We hope that we will play an exemplary role in cooperating with each other in keeping residential and commercial areas clean. This is what we look for. Why we should wait for the law to take its course and correct us, when our religion has already guided us for this?
While civic organisations toil to keep the neighbourhoods clean, people continue to throw garbage in the streets and public areas instead of leaving them in the right places