To highlight the garbage menace on the roads and near Buddha Nullah, the city-based environmentalists along with the activists from Public Action Committee Sutlej and Mattewara, in a satirical take, made use of Veeru and Basanti from Bollywood’s superhit movie Sholay.
The activists, holding the poster, staged a peaceful protest near the house of municipal corporation commissioner Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal here on Sunday.
The posters consisting pictures of Veeru stating - “Basanti es kude ke dher ke aage se mat nikalna (Basanti don’t cross in front of the garbage)”- and a quick retort from Basanti- “Veeru mere pass koi aur rasta nahi hai- (Veeru I do not have other choice)-“ left the commuters in splits.
The activists said the civic body has failed in managing solid waste, construction and demolition waste. They blamed the MC for doing nothing to stop the duping of garbage in open plots.
Kuldeep Singh Khaira and Jaskirat Singh, both environmental activists, said, “The Buddha Nullah has not only turned the toxic vein of the city but the vacant area around it has become a dumping ground of garbage. Sadly, the MC authorities are doing precious little to fix the problem.”
“The municipal authorities have failed on every front, be it a solution to waste management problems or any other civic woes of the city. The municipal authorities have even lied to the National GreenTribunal (NGT) in the district environment plan with laughable claims such as 50% segregation of domestic waste being achieved in Ludhiana. The monitoring committee appointed by NGT itself estimated that to be around 5%,” said the duo.
{{/usCountry}}“The municipal authorities have failed on every front, be it a solution to waste management problems or any other civic woes of the city. The municipal authorities have even lied to the National GreenTribunal (NGT) in the district environment plan with laughable claims such as 50% segregation of domestic waste being achieved in Ludhiana. The monitoring committee appointed by NGT itself estimated that to be around 5%,” said the duo.
{{/usCountry}}Kapil Arora from the Council of Engineers said satire is the best method of spreading a message. “We decided to use the dialogue of Sholey to draw the attention of commuters towards the menace.”