Private or Public – Whose property is it?
Views — By Kadambari on February 23, 2011 at 4:30 PMWalking around Pune, one is forced to think what if all the property and other utilities are privatised or belong to the masses? I see so many public places and even historical places being covered with filth and posters of varied companies. The infrastructure of the city has already gone for a toss and spoiling the one we have is being foolish.
The big hoardings displaying huge pictures of political leaders (half the faces which I have never seen) sending out birthday and welcome messages are erected all over the junctions and roads. These hoardings not only block the view causing traffic chaos but also take away the charm from the city. Despite the ban on these hoardings, we seldom find anyone following the rule. The space for these hoardings is used as if it is a private property.
The other thing that amuses me is the roads, walls and many other public places being painted red. (Not the oil paints but the paan and gutka spew) And no, it is not that only the poor class follow this practice of spitting at public places, I see several well-dressed and educated men misusing the public property and splattering around.
Visit our railway stations or even government offices and you can’t even bare to see the entire space. It’s full of spit and weird gibberish written all over. Why are cleaners supposed to clean this dirt, why can’t one take care of their own dirty acts. While you are driving on the road, you would be unaware when a wind of air will bring with it a spatter of spit. Whether in buses or in cars, none of these people care about others when it comes to spitting in the open. People spitting on public utilities should be made to clean their own spit as they have no right to leave their dirt behind as the place equally belongs to other citizens.
The next topic of concern is the flyovers and roads. They are constructed for the progress of the city but then the amount of years it takes, loses its purpose in the longer picture. Commuters are forced to go through the horrible traffic chaos due to the ongoing work. Why do the ministers or the concerned authorities do not consider the plight of common man and push the work ahead as per their convenience. If it is being made for the betterment of citizens, why make them go through a lot of pain and be a scapegoat for all the several accidents that occur here.
Even the public buses are an easy target during riots. Be it an accident or some other issue, burning buses or pelting stones seems to be an easy solution to most activist sand citizens. How on earth are we going to solve problems by burning and breaking buses? Isn’t it a public property? I would like to ask people who undertake such acts, will they have the guts to pelt stone at the cars or properties of people who initiate trouble. (And the answer is obvious). Then why do we need to do that to public utilities.
Public utilities no longer seem to belong to any of us, despite the fact that we all use them daily. Citizens need to understand that spoiling these utilities is their own loss. Even if the money for these utilities does not go through our pockets directly, we do contribute for it via tax. Please do not waste your own money and take care of our property.
One can’t really blame the authorities alone as we as citizens are equally responsible for such acts. After all public property belongs to all of us and we need to act sensibly towards it. And authorities need not forget that they too are citizens first.
