During a 2020 cleanliness survey, Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, was ranked 7th among the 10 dirtiest cities in the country in the category of cities with populations under 10 lakhs. Itanagar wasn’t alone in the top ten; Shillong ranked sixth, and Dimapur came in at number eight. The list didn’t come as a shock, given how dirty the place is, but government agencies were roasted by netizens for not doing enough and for bringing shame to the state. Little has been done since then. Itanagar remains a town of garbage and mismanagement; from the highways to the rivers, plastic and waste compete for space.
Recently, the Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC) announced that it will collect garbage twice a day. This is a good decision, as collecting garbage only once a day is not working effectively. The problem is that there are no set timings for garbage collection, and there are no dustbins where people can leave their waste for clearance. If these two issues can be prioritised, it may mark the beginning of a more consistent cleanliness routine. For now, both are missing. One can’t miss the garbage pickup trucks, especially since they play loud music to announce their arrival, often to the point of annoyance. While the IMC should make less noise with announcements and focus more on actual work, citizens deserve a cleaner city with proper waste segregation and disposal. The waste we throw into sanitation trucks should not end up in the rivers, as has often been the case.
While announcements may not necessarily translate into action, the right to a clean city is a basic right that the IMC and the government must understand. Best practices should be studied and replicated in the state. The IMC, while announcing several initiatives, has stated that it will deploy supervisors to ensure that all measures are being properly implemented and penalties imposed on violators. However, if there are proper timings, regular garbage pickup, and designated locations for waste disposal in each sector, there will be little need for such supervisors.