Editor,
The yellow/green garbage trucks of the Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC) are a welcome sight, signalling a step towards a cleaner capital. However, for many residents, the arrival of these trucks is more of a surprise than a service. The current system of unpredictable collection timings is creating a ‘cleanliness paradox’: while the trucks are moving, the roadsides remain littered.
In a fast-paced capital, the citizens are bound by their own professional and academic schedules. Students need to reach schools, and employees must be at their desks by 9 am. When a garbage truck arrives at 10:30 am one day and at 7 am the next, it creates a logistical nightmare.
Most residents cannot wait indefinitely for the siren. Consequently, to avoid keeping rotting waste inside their homes, many are forced to leave garbage bags on the roadside or at sector corners before leaving for work. These bags are promptly ripped open by stray animals, defeating the very purpose of the sector-to-sector collection drive.
Constructive growth requires shifting from ‘random collection’ to ‘scheduled collection’. The department of urban development & housing and the mayor’s office should consider implementing a fixed-time window for every colony.
Imagine a system where collection happens in E Sector 6 am and 6:30 am, and it happens at 6:45 am and 7:15 am in C Sector. When the timing is fixed, the ‘climax’ of the morning routine for a resident becomes predictable. People can plan their morning chores around this 30-minute window, ensuring that waste goes directly from the house to the truck, with zero ‘roadside transit’ time.
A fixed schedule isn’t just better for us; it’s better for the administration. It would make it easier for the department to track if a particular sector was skipped. Predictability builds trust. When the government respects the citizen’s time, the citizen is more likely to cooperate with the government’s rules.
If Itanagar aims to lead the Northeast in urban management, we must move past the ‘whenever possible’ attitude. Let us synchronise our clocks with our cleaning timing. A disciplined schedule is the simplest, most cost-effective way to ensure that our streets remain as clean as our intentions.
ICR citizen