Mangaluru: Domestic solid waste management helps solid waist management; that’s a truth that is hard to evade. But evade is what we all do. We just throw it out – the waste, often without segregating it, like we are supposed to – hoping there is someone out there, or that someone, somewhere in the bureaucratic maze that is our governance system, has made some arrangements to pick it up, incinerate it or recycle it. It’s not our problem folks, it’s theirs. We pay our taxes, don’t we?
Oh yes, we do, and at our city’s level, the City Corporation has put in place an organized system, for which we are grateful. It’s not perfect, it is not the best, but they are trying their best and we applaud their efforts for the reasonable solid waste management process they have put in place. The days of overflowing bins, garbage-filled sidewalks, and a free for all for crows and animals, seem to be long gone. And we are grateful.
But no organized system is possible without people. People who populate the system. Who do the hard work, who pick up the waste without complaint, often without protective equipment. Not on this earth. There 770 people out there spread across the 60 wards of the Mangalore City Corporation, working hard so that we may live in a swacch Mangaluru. They may be doing it for a livelihood, so that their children may not have to do what they do, but they do it with diligence, a smile, and dedication. They deserve our respect. Always. When we meet them on the road when they pick up the garbage at our gates when they sweep the road in front of our house or even clean underground drainage. We must greet them with a smile and a hello, just as they do when they see us. They are the ones who pack our parachutes.
And that is why Uxcel, Institute of Excellence, led by the innovative and indefatigable Mrs. Maria Phyllis D’Costa together with the Roshni Alumni Association, will honor and felicitate them all at a ceremony to be held tomorrow, December 15, 2019, at the Milagres PU College Auditorium in the presence of DC, Mangalore, and the Mangalore City Corporation Commissioner, Ajit Hegde. It is a unique, and noble initiative to do what each of us should do individually. Tomorrow it is their day to receive the kudos they deserve, and Uxcel and Roshni Alumni Association (RAA), have come together to do it on everyone’s behalf.
“The whole event has been sponsored by many individuals and institutions that just said yes when approached with this unique idea,” said Mrs. D’Costa. And they have walked the talk. The organizers are eternally grateful. “The Mangalore City Corporation, their top officials and everyone – the environment engineers and Public Health Officials – who work day in day out so that we may live in a clean and healthy environment too have been very supportive”, said Mrs. D’Costa.
Dheeraj Shetty, President of the RAA, said, “This is a very unique concept and I must congratulate Mrs. D’Costa for coming up with it. As Roshniites we are glad to be a part of it because it is part of our Alma Mater’s motto – Love is made fruitful in service. The executive committee of the association, with the unstinting support of Roshni Nilaya, the institution, has been working wholeheartedly for this noble cause. We want it to be. and we are confident that it will be, a grand success”.
Certainly, its a novel and unique idea; Everyone likes a pat on the back; it is both a reward and acts as a motivator; however since we are not designed to pat our own, we must certainly pat those who deserve it. And who better than the sanitation staff of the Mangalore City Corporation? Three Cheers to them and the organizers for this wonderful initiative. Great day tomorrow. One that must repeat every year?
