Saturday, August 2, 2008

Response to your SMS, Shaileen...

I've just got this message from a friend living within a stone's throw of the offensively smelling (more like Kibarani), garbage can that the Council has insisted on keeping in this residential area of Ganjoni.

They (the Council), objected to the residents moving this bin to another location, last year, and even threated them with dire consequences if they did. How strange! Does the health and sanitation department of this outfit really work?

He's telling me that I should go past, in case I'm driving, to keep my windows open and get a little experience of what the residents go through the whole time - day and night. Not to mention that this attracts all kinds of pests - human and otherwise. For I have seen glue sniffing street boys uncaringly going into the bin and collecting things.

This is the case all over this town...., sorry city. Even, where I live which is ironically a Municipal Estate within metres of Aga Khan Hospital, there are two over flowing garbage bins which only get emptied once in a while. This too, attracts all the same pests as the one in question at Ganjoni and the crows, who have not been 'educated' about sanitation, pick things at these bins and redistribute this all over. Even in our balconies! After all they are not human and therefore don't know that those bins are for the purpose of throwing garbage. Can somebody from the Council, please, train these crows to throw their unwanted stuff back to where they picked it?!

As long as this Council does not deal with this garbage problem effectively, we will, by extension, keep suffering from the crow problem, too, since these are scavenger birds.

Add to this ,the persistent waterless state of this place where water kiosks are supplying the residents with water despite paying phantom bills, makes it interesting 'living' in such conditions and one wonders why this town was upgraded into a 'city'. In actual fact, it should have been downgraded into a very remote 'village' since, that's to which level our Local Authorities have taken us.

Razia.

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