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It is one thing to complain about lack of basic amenities and infrastructure; it’s quite another to vandalise the little in place, including those set up by volunteers. The Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) may have its own flaws but it has been doing its bit to do away with the “dirtiest city” tag by taking up beautification projects, conducting cleanliness campaigns and enhancing waste management. One commendable initiative taken up by the municipal council is transformation of unauthorised garbage dumping sites into pathways. Ironically, instead of welcoming such changes, beautification works have been vandalised on a few occasions in the past, the latest instance being at Westyard junction where a bollard was flattened just a day after the dumping site was converted into a pathway. Such acts by some miscreants will demoralise the people who sweated out to make the city beautiful besides disrupting growth. Every little step towards making the state’s commercial hub a better place should be welcomed and encouraged, while miscreants disrupting developmental works should be booked and punished according to the law of the land. The law enforcing authorities should set a precedent for such cases by penalising the offenders. It is also high time CCTVs are installed in the city, at least at strategic locations where crime rates are high. This will help prevent acts of vandalism and crimes in the city.
Besides taking measures to prevent vandalism, it is vital for the citizens to have a sense of belongingness to permanently stop it. Sadly, many government establishments and facilities in public spaces are either in shambles or poorly maintained. Defaced beautiful murals on city walls, garbage strewn on the roads for the authorities to collect every morning, and stinking waste-ridden streams reflect lack of civic sense. While some organisations, student bodies, environmentalists and individuals try to make the city more liveable by taking up cleanliness drive, planting trees and flowers, organising awareness programmes, etc., some seem to take pleasure in causing trouble and damaging facilities in public spaces. The “everybody's property is nobody's property” mentality has to go and be replaced with a sense of belongingness and responsibility . The Dimapur municipal area, which has over 90 colonies, is said to be producing more than one lakh kg of waste daily. Can the DMC keep the city clean and beautiful if the citizens litter and damage facilities? NO it cannot. Everybody – commercial establishments, schools, stores, hotels, households and individuals – should improve waste management in their buildings and homes. Some localities have responded well to the call for a cleaner and better city, which is encouraging. This should spread to every corner of the city.