Imagine if everything we produce settle down without being cleared. Forget children please for we want them to settle down. We are talking about things that do not matter to us anymore, like the waste we generate daily. Be it at home, workplace or anywhere, one of the major strategies we take up in handling wastes is getting rid of them.
A plastic carry bag is all that takes to collect the waste and simply throw it away. The loop provided in the carry bags help in throwing them away easily out of the house or into the dustbin. Again, what if the carry bags we throw outside our homes are not taken away in time. The rotten wastes inside the bags are sure to block our ditches and start emanating stench, unbearable.
The worse case of these activities is the outbreak of diseases spread through water borne insects as such wastes block and stagnate sewage water.
Even the imagination of such a scenario would be utterly unpleasing and what if that becomes a daily routine. It absolutely will if the sanitary workers in our area take some time off. Of course we cannot ask them not to, for we all need a vacation.
Yet, on most occasions, the wastes in many areas are being constantly removed by these unsung heroes. Not many imagine them as unsung heroes nor are even thankful, but in what could be a noble initiative, residents of Nanjama Naidu Layout at Perur in the outskirts of the city, have gone one step forward in thanking the sanitary workers.
They have invited the sanitary workers who clean their roads to be the Chief Guests for the celebration of the 71st Independence Day, held in their neighbourhood on Tuesday.
The youth of the area have been celebrating Independence Day for the past ten years in a unique way. They take up a topic each year and bring in experts to throw light on the selected topics. Earlier, experts on Rooftop gardening, Yoga, Blood Donation, and Organ Donation Harvesting have attended the celebrations and shared their expertise to the locals.
This year, taking into considering the amassing effect of poor solid waste management of people, they invited the sanitary workers and felicitated them for their service.
According to S. Hari Ganesh, one of the youths in the organising committee, the decision to invite them was taken after watching the documentary “Kakkoos”, a controversial work of art that dealt with the life of sanitary workers.
“They face a lot of hardship in their work but do them to keep our areas clean. If we have to thank any one, it is them for they make sure that we live a hygienic life,” he adds.
The residents pooled in money and provided the sanitary workers with shirts and dhotis during the event.
Later on the day, various cultural events including silambattam, dance and music furnished the evening. The children of the area also recited Tamil poems and Thirukkural.
There was also dinner arranged for all the audience, who numbered more than 250 on the day.