Cleanliness and civic sense

  Ms Tavleen Singh in her write-up “The ultimate urban nightmare” (September 12), states that Indian cities are the filthiest in the world. Holding the municipal staff responsible for this situation, the writer suggests that cities should be governed by single elected bodies, or municipal services should be privatised to remedy the situation.

Well, I don’t think the civic employees alone are responsible for this sorry state of affairs. Lack of civic sense on the part of citizens, too, is greatly responsible for it.

Municipal sweepers, of course, fail to clear the garbage, and there is hardly any authority that can pull them up. But the question is: who is responsible in the first place for dumping that garbage at public places? The writer, while mentioning her experience at Marine Drive of Mumbai (which, incidentally, prompted her to do the piece), points out that the garbage lying scattered there comes from the restaurants and food stalls which spring up on the promenade every evening and disappear with the night. Obviously, it is the stall owners and their customers who throw the leftovers, paper plates, etc, in the open. Is it not the duty of these people to keep the area clean by throwing such useless things into bins?

A few years ago the civic authorities of my town installed big metal bins at several places and appealed to the residents to throw the garbage of their houses into them. Significantly, most of the bins remained unused as residents continued to throw their garbage on the roads and drains. Shockingly enough, they would dump garbage just outside the bins rather than dropping it into them. The bins gradually got damaged and later disappeared. I know such things happen in several other towns also.

Western countries are clean not only because of the efficiency of the departments concerned but also because of the great civic sense of the people of these countries.

SURENDRA MIGLANI
Kaithal

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City of garbage

Patiala, once known as the Bara Dari of Gardens, drug addicts (forgive me gentlemen of the city) and urinals. Have a look at Rose Garden, near the bus stand, Patiala. It was built for the beautification of the city and to enable the people who could not go to Bara Dari Gardens for taking a stroll. But as one enters the park, particularly in the evening, one finds card-players, and the precious youth of the country in sound sleep as if the world has no use for them.

There are urinals near both gates, but it is so shameful that one finds men standing near the wall to ease themselves, without bothering about the presence of small children and women all-around. The watchman/gardner dare not check them.

Not a single light is in order. None of the fountains is seen in working order, and water there stinks. Still we call it a Rose Garden!

On the right-hand-side of the park stands a library with a beautiful reading room. Perhaps, a majority are not aware of it or have no interest in reading.

JASBIR KAUR AHUJA
Patiala

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Why blame only Lewinsky?

In her letter (September 21) about the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, Ms Kanika Mankotia follows quite a curious line which is difficult to understand. She is rightly bitter in her castigation of Ms Lewinsky but seems to be very indulgent towards Mr Clinton about his responsibility in the sordid affair.

Indeed, even when she is not trying to justify his acts she adds the rider, “if all this is true”. Surely, if there is doubt in her mind about what has been widely reported to have happened, there is no reason why the doubt should appear in respect of Mr Clinton only and not be there at all so far as Ms Lewinsky is concerned: after all, it is the same “activities” which are in question.

This really appears to be a case of gender discrimination in apportioning blame between two equally guilty parties. When the kettle and the pot are both of the darkest colour, it is hardly fair to think of one as pitch black, and of the other as pale grey and that also with a distinct question mark.

The letter also remarks that if Ms Lewinsky had been of Asian origin her own parents would have shot her dead. Well, if that is correct, then one can hazard the guess that Mr Clinton’s counterpart too would not have had much of a future: the incensed parents would have swiftly found another bullet to plug into his head.

SAROOP KRISHEN
Chandigarh

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Neglected buildings

It is a matter of great anguish that the magnificent buildings of the past, belonging to the first half of the twentieth century in this city, are in a pitiable state. Nothing has been done for the upkeep of these splendid buildings since 1947. The huge court complex is a shambles. Its rooftops are full of grass, and hundreds of peepal trees are flourishing on the roof and the walls. The base of the walls has rusted and is falling.

Steps leading to the rooms are in a very poor condition. Water collects around the building when it rains. The porch under which the car of the Sessions Judge is parked is cracking and may fall any time. The authorities are perhaps waiting to see some tragedy to occur.

The statue of Raja Randhir Singh is in a pitiable state. The cannon displayed in front of the old DC’s office is crumbling as if hit by a tank shell of the enemy.

Major NARINDER SINGH JALLO (retd)
Kapurthala

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Poison control centres

Ms Pushpa Girimaji’s “Discard when medicines degrade” (Sept 25) prompts me to convey that pharmacology textbooks are a good source of information on the treatment of cases of poisoning by drugs, but they usually say little about other chemicals.

In the USA there is an extremely useful source of information on the treatment of acute poisoning by commercial products — Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products by Gosslein and Associates (1984). The book contains seven major sections. One section lists over 17,500 trade names of products that might be ingested accidentally or suicidally.

India must publish such book with lists of the manufacturers and ingredients of each commercial product with notes on the components believed to be responsible for harmful effects. There is need to have poison control centres in each district.

AVTAR NARAIN CHOPRA
Kurukshetra