STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Guwahati's civic problems are no longer limited to overflowing garbage bins, clogged drains or littered roadsides. A deeper problem appears to be taking root in the city, a growing reluctance among people to accept responsibility for the condition of their surroundings.
While residents blame the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) for failing to maintain cleanliness, the civic body often points to the lack of civic sense among citizens. Shopkeepers blame garbage collectors for failing to clear waste, while sanitation workers are left dealing with garbage indiscriminately dumped on roads and public spaces. Amid this cycle of accusations, the city continues to struggle with recurring sanitation problems.
Garbage dumped along roadsides, plastic waste thrown into water bodies, overflowing drains, haphazard parking and the unauthorised occupation of public spaces have become familiar sights across Guwahati. Despite repeated complaints and cleaning drives, the same problems often return the following day.
A resident, expressing frustration over the situation, said, "Everyone wants a clean city, but nobody wants to take responsibility for keeping it clean. People immediately blame the GMC whenever they see garbage on the roadside, but they conveniently forget that someone from among us has dumped it there in the first place. Civic responsibility cannot be left entirely to municipal workers."
The resident also questioned the common tendency among people to dismiss individual responsibility.
"People often ask what difference one person can make. But one person throws a plastic packet, another throws a bottle, and someone else dumps an entire bag of household waste on the roadside. A shopkeeper leaves commercial waste outside his establishment. When hundreds of people behave this way, the entire neighbourhood suffers. What begins as individual convenience eventually becomes a collective civic problem," the resident added.
While citizens cannot escape their responsibility, the GMC's role in maintaining the city's basic civic infrastructure remains equally important. Regular garbage collection, proper drain maintenance, monitoring of waste disposal and keeping public spaces clean are essential municipal responsibilities. Citizens have every right to question the civic body when these services are not delivered effectively.
However, civic accountability cannot be a one-sided exercise. Municipal workers cannot be expected to repeatedly clear waste from locations where people continue to dump garbage indiscriminately. Similarly, shopkeepers and commercial establishments must ensure that their waste is disposed of responsibly rather than leaving it on footpaths and roadsides.
The larger concern is that cleanliness in Guwahati is increasingly being treated as somebody else's responsibility. Unless the civic administration strengthens monitoring and service delivery while citizens demonstrate basic discipline in their everyday activities, the city's cleanliness efforts are unlikely to produce lasting results.