A Criminologist’s Diary-13

ROMAN KINGS AND ABOVE THE LAW

Waste management is a developed science and there are universities which offer Master's Course in that branch of discipline. I am told that the students who study M.B.A. in waste management do not waste their time in seeking placements. Any way in Bentonville and for that matter in the entire USA, I think that the waste management is well programmed. In THE LINK at RAINBOW CURVE apartments here, there are, it appears to me, more than 100 apartments. There exist extremely fine arrangements for waste collection and disposal. In Singapore, the arrangement is still better and in Dubai and Sharjha, it is indeed fine. If all these countries can perform a responsibility in an enviable way, why do we fail miserably in that area? Hygienic environment is a human right and no authority can deny it to the citizens.

In Thiruvananthapuram where I stay, the waste management is far away from being satisfactory. Wastes are thrown to public roads, to public lands, to water, to road sides, to private property, to railway tracks, to road side drainage canals and where not? When I go from Mannammoola to Peroorkada (about one kilometer) I find waste being thrown to road sides-smelling and many a time with nauseating smell. From Peroorkada to Kaudiar ( two kilometers), even dead dogs, intestines of chicken with feathers, market wastes, decayed vegetables, rags, human excreta, dead animals, rats …. may be seen. The entire city is contaminated with waste of all descriptions and kinds/categories. Public protests are seen and heard against waste disposal. People suffer the foul smell and many have skin diseases. The environment is polluted, the water is dirty, vegetation around is smelling and the T.V. Visuals are horrible and public anger-causing. There are laws prohibiting the polluting attitude and activities of the people. I am told that the punishment is Rs.10000/-or so. The law is not effectively enforced and the people are worried at the callous indifference of the authorities in the matter. Foreigners visiting the capital city ask:" How do the people live here? "The position is not different in Kochy, Trissur, Kozhikode and all cities in the State. In rural areas, waste collection, control and disposal is unknown. No enforcement of the laws! What to do?

When the public agitation is there, the police enter the scene. Cases are registered against the strikers and the peace is disturbed. While cases are registered against even innocent people, but agitating-aggressive members of the public, the bureaucrats/ officials who are to perform their duty are not proceeded against. No case is registered against them for their inaction, lethargy, omission to perform their responsibility. Are they above the law? Or the law can be enforced only against the enforceable? Yes, all these officials having power and authority are the ROMAN KINGS and ABOVE THE LAW!