Cleanliness begins and ends at home

Cleanliness begins and ends at home
Deccan Herald

Cleanliness, like charity, begins at home. However, in India, cleanliness appears to get restricted to the four walls of a home. Everything else is public or government property, so why bother about keeping them clean is an attitude one comes across often.

Take the case of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus stands in the heart of the City which this reporter visited.

Paan-stained walls, blotches of red all over, paper and plastic littered around, smelly corners and dirty overbridge are a common sight. The first reaction of a visitor can only be: Ugh! Unless the visitor’s senses are already accustomed to such sights or he or she has seen something worse.

It appears that it is only minutes after the bus stands are cleaned that they look neat and approachable. As the day progresses, these places accumulate garbage and the toilets raise a literal stink!

Walk down from the BMTC bus stand into the KSRTC bus stand over the connecting overbridge and it is the stink of the toilet that welcomes you as you descend. Broken toilet doors, absence of buckets or flush tanks, defunct wash basins and a general sloshy look characterise some of the toilets.

Despite paying to use the toilets, visitors seem to care little about leaving it clean for use by the next person. At times, the very concept of pay and use appears to be the deterrent. Compounding the fact is the collection of Rs 2 instead of Rs 1 as entry fee at the public toilets and the presence of just four toilets each for men and women at a bus station where the movement of people ranges over one lakh.

Besides the use of toilets, the other bother is the habit of people spitting anywhere and everywhere.

So much so that a less alert walker may very well face the disgusting situation of someone spitting right on him or her. “For a person who is keen on cleanliness and hygiene, these bus stands would be a real no-no.

Such people would want to keep away from the walls, the toilets and even the seats at the bus stands,” says Aruna, a software engineer, who commutes everyday from the BMTC bus stand.

KSRTC MD’S APPEAL

Say no to offensive behaviour

According to KSRTC Managing Director M R Sreenivasamurthy, “There is a need for change in attitude about what is offensive behaviour in public. People too don’t seem to mind such behaviour at times. But in reality, they should not accept these things,” he said. Cleanliness and hygiene will not be a success if there is no co-operation from the public, he pointed out. He also said that the broken and dilapidated toilets in KSRTC bus stands were being demolished and new modernised toilets, which are easy to maintain, were being constructed.

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“We get the toilets cleaned every hour in three shifts. However, people don’t maintain cleanliness after they use the toilets. They discard plastic satchets and paper in them, leading to a general dirty look,” claims Renuka, Supervisor from Epicurean, the company in-charge of house-keeping at the KSRTC Bus Stand.