A viral video making the rounds recently shows a local Goan halting a tourist bus bearing a Karnataka registration along the Dona Paula-Bambolim stretch because an arm appeared out of the window and a bottle was sent reeling through the air. Proceeding to ask the littering tourists to pick up the trash they flung, he refused to let the vehicle leave until the task was accomplished. Incidentally, the video had 247,932 views at the time of writing this article. But is this what things have come to? Agreed, indiscriminate littering on the state's highways by tourists has severely dented Goa's image globally, but is resorting to such tactics a necessary measure? Or is this the only option to preserve what's left of our rural idyll?
And is it only the tourists who can be held responsible for the quantum of waste“ plastic bags, bottles and beer cans“ littering the roadsides? Or are we all a little guilty of the same habit?
How many of us actually carry our 'garbage' back home or hold on to it until we can dispose of it in the nearest dustbin? How many times have we callously flung stuff (even something as paltry as a cigarette butt) out of our moving vehicles? Or surreptitiously disposed off debris by the roadsides?
And yet, each time we drive by, we shake our heads in disgust. But what does all this tell us about our civic sense and social values? Creating a mess everywhere we go without even thinking about our actions and their consequences?
Littering from vehicles is a major problem across the world and our pristine land is no different. Now, however, the lack of focus and priority in garbage management is having grave implications for the state. Just last month, The Guardian carried an article stating that Goa was "an idyll no more." Earlier, in February, The Outlook had one called 'The End Of The Goan Dream.'
Is this truly what things have come to? And is there no going back?
QUOTES
I collect my own garbage. If I drink or eat anything in the car, I collect it in a bag I keep in my car expressly for this purpose and dispose off of it only once I get home. I can never find a dustbin along the roadside ever.
Sheldon Fernandes, Margao
Cleanliness is close to Godliness. This we have been hearing since our school days. Sadly, this isn't taken as seriously. Normally, when the word 'God' is in a statement all are alert and attentive. So why not use this statement as a motto to shake all the idol worshipers. If it takes the almighty to talk some sense into us then so be it. I, for one, refuse to litter and simply apply the same cleanliness mentality I have at home to my outdoors as well. Would I spit in my corridor? Would I litter my living room floor? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves and our conscience will answer.
Donna Fernandes Siolim
BOX
Research and experience have shown that litter is the result of individual behaviour-choosing to litter or being careless in the handling of waste. And once litter is on the ground, it attracts more litter.
