Símbolos e iconos del embalaje

Quite a number of new State governors, immediately on assuming office, embarked in what has almost become a familiar routine in the initiation of new governors - the campaign to keep our cities clean. This time around, these rituals have coincided with and, therefore, received, added impetus from the nation-wide Operation WAI which appears to blame all the ills in our society on indiscipline.

Perhaps this is so I do not intend to bore readers by joining issues with this view. I believe there have already been adequate counter-balancing arguments by many well-meaning writers articulating the view that the much talked about indiscipline among the masses may well be due as much to their neglect by successive administrators and the harsh and desperate environmental, social, and economic conditions which they have to contend with daily, as to any congenital proclivity to do wrong.

One does not need to search too hard to see why the condition of our environment should attract the attention of the new governors. First, one can hardly exaggerate in describing the level of degradation represented by the appalling and dehumanizing conditions of our physical environment. The incessant assault on our senses and the bizzare and

91 depressing imaeries they engender in our minds, conditions once restricted only to a few urban centres have now become so pervasive that they must constitute constant reminders of failures of successive governments.

The bleak and dreary slums with their distressing living conditions that represent the bulk of our residential districts, the hazardous death traps that we call roads, the noise that jars and pounds our eardrums each hour of the day etc. altogether constitute some of the most outrageous examples of urban barbarism encountered anywhere in the world.

Perhaps the only surprise left is the fact that we are still surprised and the greatest danger is that we may some day become so inured that we may even cease to be surprised anymore by what we see around us.

There is also the fact that the physical environment is a visible and tangible entity and whoever succeeds in making a visible impression on it immediately leaves an indelible imprint on the minds of the people about his stewardship. It has thus become a veritable war front and, like all war fronts, it has its share of dangers and casualties as well as glory.

There is a general consensus that the misuse and abuse of our physical environment in their various forms have reached terrific proportions and must be arrested and eradicated.

It is indeed pathetic to notice the speed with which illegal houses spring up even in the most exclusive and expensive districts in our urban centres.

My point of departure and line of dissent, however, is about the modus operandi of these clean up exercises. For, no matter how widespread or endemic these abuses are, we must see them for what they really are symptoms of more deep-rooted maladies, which require to be treated at source rather than superficially.

These campaigns invariably adopt some set operational patterns aimed at predictable targets, namely, destitute, rubbish dumps, open drains, illegal structures like sheds and workshops etc. And then after two weeks or so, the tempo abates and the operations stop almost as abruptly as they started and we are once more back to where we started.

The destitute drifts back to the streets by day and return by night to their accustomed spots to rest their jaded heads on their damp or dusty pallets. The refuse trucks break down, the dustbins disappear and refuse starts accumulating once-more, first in trickles then in a deluge until it covers the streets and overflows into the open drains. Just as before.

The roadside mechanics and traders, food sellers and all return to their well- appointed

92 locations to mend their half-wrecked shelters. A_ nd before long, it is business as usual.

And on the other side of the battle field, the erstwhile frontline soldiers of the failed campaign return to based to exchange notes about their exploits and buy "ewa' at break time from the roadside mamas in the shades of the almond trees across the road. The officers of the campaign return to their air- conditioned offices to attend to their more familiar tasks on the desk; and the authorities who started the ill-spread campaign in the first instance, now stigmatized as usual with ineffectiveness and inefficiency, are left to nurse the wounds of their battered image.

The question that then arises is why is this always so? Why do these campaigns always fail? The reason must lie in the fact that the approach and operations strategies for the campaigns are usually misconceived. The measures that are adopted are usually, at one and the same time, too drastic, too hasty, and too superficial, and these factors only ensure their ineffectiveness and ultimate failure.

One does not set about to cure a headache by severing the head or treat leprosy by burning off the leprous tissues. It is a fact that the bulk of the offending land uses arise from the various activities of the informal sector of our economy, sometimes referred to as the inevitable sector. This represents the vast majority of our working population who fall outside government employment or the organized private sector; those who in their own little ways must eke out a living. Most of these are certainly in no position to acquire or rent properly zoned premises for their operations but must make do with some improvised locations.

Bearing this as well as their socioeconomic role in our present economic circumstances in mind, one is constrained to say that it is a rather drastic measure to uproot them without .due consideration for their well-being and means of livelihood through the provision of appropriate alternative facilities.

The fault, of course, has primarily been with our approach to urban planning which is heavily influenced by unrealistic and abstract foreign standards. For even in those districts, which had the benefit of formal planning from the onset, little or no consideration appears to have been accorded these inevitable and essential land use requirements.

The trouble is that we cannot wish them away and can only continue to ignore them to our detriment, for they are realities and facts of life, which we must contend with. The

93 paucity of properly organized open-air market places in our towns is a notable case in point. Considering their enduring role in our economic and business culture, their inadequacy is a serious indictment on bur urban planning practice.

The only hope for a truly lasting solution to the chaos caused by these informal uses in our urban areas is for authorities to determine the real extent of their land requirements and .that to embark on a deliberate effort to carve out and provide properly organized spaces and facilities for them in appropriate locations.

Furthermore, the authorities must bear in mind that for any environmental campaign to succeed, there must be a programme for sustained effort and continuous surveillance rather than a once-and-for-all affair. It has taken decades of neglect and abuse for the environment to degenerate to its present detestable state and it is therefore unrealistic to expect that the situation can be eradicated in one sudden and explosive swoop. The decision of some State governors to reintroduce the services of Public Health Inspectors at this time is, therefore, most appropriate and commendable step in the right direction.

The physica environment is, as-it were, a living organism and needs to be tendered and catered for. The factors which compel its development and dictate its emerging physiognomy are the nature and extent of the very human activities.National Concord, May 3, 1984