“Waste not the smallest thing created, for grains of sand make mountains, and atomies infinity” – E Knight
The quote makes you seem helpless and re-think. However, it’s no use for a public-spirited citizen to just sit in a corner and lament the lack of civic and aesthetic sense among Mangaloreans. No more worries, The Ugly Indian – Mangalore Chapter, is here. Clad with brooms and scrubs in hand, cleansing through the city – this people’s movement is one to which every citizen must stand for.
The Ugly Indians (TUI), a group of anonymous volunteers, has taken the initiative to clean up the city of Mangalore and give it a good scrubbing.
This people’s movement was initiated in Bangalore. Few activists group who took-up the slogan of ‘Kaam chaalu mooh bandh (start working, stop talking)’, and cleaned up a huge portion from Malleswaram to Rajajinagar to Whitefield, have created a reach to sanitize eyesores in Mysore, Coimbatore, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, including our city – Mangalore.
The Mangalore Chapter – Endeavour
In an attempt to restore the historical monument, the first endeavour by The Ugly Indians (TUI) was at Sultan Battery. This public campaign made sure to clean-up packaging trash thrown about on the shores including the wet waste.
After which there was no turning back, as the campaign initiated spot fixes at Arya Samaj, Kotekani, Valencia, Ladyhill and are planning to reach every nook and corner of the city to make it clean.
Present Garbage Calamity
The city is in middle of a huge Solid Waste Management crisis. The Mangalore City Corporation is making efforts to implement new ways and methods to sort the issue of garbage. Now, with the tender awarded to “Antony Solid Waste Management Pvt Ltd”, only time will tell the results of the same.
Apparently, with the initiation of making Mangalore a “dustbin-less city” the MCC centralized and removed several dustbins from various localities, which have unfortunately led to more filthy spots as people tend to dumb garbage in the same area, even when there aren’t dustbins. Apart from this, there are uncleared garbage piled up along the roads and around open drains. This is another challenge taken up by the TUI.
Mangalore City Corporation Support
Although it’s just been a few months since The Ugly Indians (TUI) has taken up the cleaning in the city, the Mangalore Corporation has been supportive, till date.
Helping with the spot fixes, providing garbage vehicles, manpower or at least listening to the crisis around the city, the Corporation has been encouraging the initiative.
The MCC Commissioner Ajith Kumar Hegde, Madhu S M, environmental engineer at MCC, and several other ground level officials and MCC workers have been generous enough to extend a helping hand towards the movement.
The motto of the movement is to enlighten as well as enjoy the support of ground level workers of civic agencies to realize the goal as TUI believes in supporting the existing systems and improving their effectiveness.
Join hands for a clean, beautiful city
The major concern is to shift our emphasis from economic efficiency and materialism towards a sustainable quality of life by solving civic woes and working towards a clean and beautiful city.
The initiative taken by The Ugly Indians (TUI) will only be fruitful, if we are determined and ensure the involvement of every citizen in this endeavour. The TUI, which is a people’s movement, was started just a few months ago in the city. Without seeking any publicity, the group silently does its work. Any citizen interested in joining the movement can visit their Facebook page or mail in at [email protected]
