Amitabh Bachchan is the face of the NDTV campaign for swachch Bharat and I was just watching the show. What an interesting debate, but so futile.
Mr. Bachchan, if you would walk along the road near your house, people would love to keep it clean maybe.
And ms Neeta Ambani, your home at Peddar Road is a fortress with an almost 20 feet tall wall, but when we approach it, just 10 meters away, there is an overflowing public garbage bin, and no proper footpath to walk. Not so long ago I visited your 'adda' and had a tough time reaching your barricaded home while very very expensive, imported cars zoomed past. You only want publicity with taking photo ops with public topics that you profess to support. Your very own security guards, holding their stenguns, spit randomly as they stand on duty and your outlets allow the customers to park their vehicles on pedestrian footpaths, caring two hoots for the public that is inconvenienced.
What hypocrites these famous people are. It only suits them to endorse some philanthropic issues and remain in the public eye.
Near my school is a very posh air-conditioned office of Mr.Owaisi. Large posters proclaim his ownership of the premises. But they flaunt all public rules. His driver threatens anyone who parks at the road opposite his office, his workers and visitors blatantly park their two wheelers onto the footpath, as a matter of 'hamara eelaaka hai'. I have personally picked up plastic teacups and vadapau wrappers, that his office persons have thrown out of his office and given it back to them, thus getting showered with the worst explicits that they could shout out. They come out of the office and spit and then go back into the sanctity of "the office".
E ward is just around the corner and yet, no one ever comes to fine the defaulters, And these defaulters are the shopkeepers in the vicinity. It is ironic that there are so many schools on Clare Road and the students have to walk along dirty roads and footpaths that are encroached with parked two wheelers and even cars, like the area near the Petrol Pump and the American Express Bakery.
The authorities who have to maintain the law, are absent from the scene. That is the tragedy of India.
Mr Adar Poonawalla, the mighty, you have beseeched to the public to join hands with you to keep the city clean, but that is not possible with almot one fourth of the people sleeping on the roads of Mumbai. At night, when I walked from the Grant Road station, upto Nana chawk, along the skywalk, I counted one hundred and seventy six beggars and squatters, sleeping along the skywalk. Where do you think these poorest of the poor, urinate and defecate, and cook and eat and sleep? They have nothing to do with keeping 'the city clean' for you and me. They just need to survive and they will do it with all the squalor and dirt around them anyway. The government needs to address their problem and provide them with sustainable housing. At present, these pavement dwellers are ignored and left to fend for themselves. They live in filth and multiply and add to the future generations of squatters. They will not become clean by magic. They need housing and counselling and education and help to lead a better life. Then Mr.Poonawalla, will India be a clean place. The have-nots must be helped.
Mr. Bachchan, if you would walk along the road near your house, people would love to keep it clean maybe.
And ms Neeta Ambani, your home at Peddar Road is a fortress with an almost 20 feet tall wall, but when we approach it, just 10 meters away, there is an overflowing public garbage bin, and no proper footpath to walk. Not so long ago I visited your 'adda' and had a tough time reaching your barricaded home while very very expensive, imported cars zoomed past. You only want publicity with taking photo ops with public topics that you profess to support. Your very own security guards, holding their stenguns, spit randomly as they stand on duty and your outlets allow the customers to park their vehicles on pedestrian footpaths, caring two hoots for the public that is inconvenienced.
What hypocrites these famous people are. It only suits them to endorse some philanthropic issues and remain in the public eye.
Near my school is a very posh air-conditioned office of Mr.Owaisi. Large posters proclaim his ownership of the premises. But they flaunt all public rules. His driver threatens anyone who parks at the road opposite his office, his workers and visitors blatantly park their two wheelers onto the footpath, as a matter of 'hamara eelaaka hai'. I have personally picked up plastic teacups and vadapau wrappers, that his office persons have thrown out of his office and given it back to them, thus getting showered with the worst explicits that they could shout out. They come out of the office and spit and then go back into the sanctity of "the office".
E ward is just around the corner and yet, no one ever comes to fine the defaulters, And these defaulters are the shopkeepers in the vicinity. It is ironic that there are so many schools on Clare Road and the students have to walk along dirty roads and footpaths that are encroached with parked two wheelers and even cars, like the area near the Petrol Pump and the American Express Bakery.
The authorities who have to maintain the law, are absent from the scene. That is the tragedy of India.
Mr Adar Poonawalla, the mighty, you have beseeched to the public to join hands with you to keep the city clean, but that is not possible with almot one fourth of the people sleeping on the roads of Mumbai. At night, when I walked from the Grant Road station, upto Nana chawk, along the skywalk, I counted one hundred and seventy six beggars and squatters, sleeping along the skywalk. Where do you think these poorest of the poor, urinate and defecate, and cook and eat and sleep? They have nothing to do with keeping 'the city clean' for you and me. They just need to survive and they will do it with all the squalor and dirt around them anyway. The government needs to address their problem and provide them with sustainable housing. At present, these pavement dwellers are ignored and left to fend for themselves. They live in filth and multiply and add to the future generations of squatters. They will not become clean by magic. They need housing and counselling and education and help to lead a better life. Then Mr.Poonawalla, will India be a clean place. The have-nots must be helped.
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