Is Postering On Walls Part of The Swachh Bharat Scheme?

Abhishruti Bezbaruah

GUWAHATI: I am a common man and I like to live in a clean environment. We all live in a society which defines itself as the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community. As a conscious citizen, I do my bit to contribute to the cleanliness of my neighbourhood. But the thing that disturbs me in my city is the uncouth culture of pasting posters on walls. In the event of elections, I have noticed an increase in the amount of wall posters round the city. From walls which are nicely tiled by owners to centre dividers which have been newly constructed on GS Road, not one space is left vacant.

We talk about Swachh Bharat and there is so much going on in the name of campaigns be it on television, radio or print media. Is it only about keeping our roads clean and picking up garbage? Are our city walls not to be maintained? On one side, few walls have beautiful murals and the very next vacant wall is plastered with posters. Shouldn’t this culture of be banned? Shouldn’t these agency’s licenses be cancelled if they dirty the city’s walls? Aren’t we conscious as citizens?

I paint my walls on a regular basis and it is very upsetting to see the very next morning when few people come in the wee hours, poster something and saunter away. Residing in a residential area, I expect my neighbourhood to be conscious of their surroundings yet I find posters of PG/ Coaching classes/ To-let posters/movie posters pasted on my walls. Yesterday, when I was passing a building in Chandmari, I noticed posters of election candidates on the tiled walls of the owners building. Are they going to compensate for it? Will they send people to clean the walls once their work is done? Guwahatians, our city looks shabby. From uncovered garbage bins to littering on the roads, men using roadside’s to answer nature’s call to posters on walls – it doesn’t look like an organized city and we are on the way Guwahati to becoming a Smart city?

I urge each resident of Guwahati to resent this culture of sticking posters on walls. I urge you to identify and send the people, who litter our walls, a bill so that it is never done again. I myself have called people out and asked them to clean their mess but all I get is rude comments in return. We all have access to social media so let’s use the hashtag #stopposteringonwallsguwahati and share our stories on social media portals and also tag the government so that they know some of us care. And we all know a sum is total of its parts. Let’s be the first one!

Also Read: GUWAHATI CITY