There is a great deal left unsaid and undone in the city of Port Blair to make it worthy of being called the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This city, which is at the heart of what all visitors term ‘Paradise’, is far from that term. Squalor and filth are to be encountered at every bend in the road while no one seems to mind or even notice. And yet, the magnitude of neglect is becoming hard to ignore.
All along the roads, in every vacant lot, in the waterways and even in the undergrowth one can see all manner of garbage, piling up, spilling over and fouling the city in its unsightly decay. The filth that surrounds every patch of habitation in the Andamans has even leached into the rainforests and the precious coral reefs. Still there remains a certain, inexplicable, apathy towards it, as if the filth were non existent or perhaps someone else’s problem.
The pristine untouched beauty, fabled to the Andamans, is getting harder and harder to find - everywhere one seems to go the litter follows. It exists in the sea, washed onto isolated islands, tangled in the coral; it exists in the forest, among the trees, in the mangroves, along the ATR.
In the city of Port Blair itself, garbage is to be found everywhere, the most easily found substance on an island where commercialisation is yet to hit!
There seems to have been a well-intentioned ban on plastic bags announced by the local administration in the area, but this ban has neither been honoured, nor regulated or enforced. Grocery shops, vegetable vendors and all other commercial outlets continue to provide plastic carry-bags and consumers continue to demand it.
This is not a letter attempting to point fingers; we are all to blame for this mess. We each need to be conscious of our actions as a community; we cannot blame the administration for not cleaning up our mess. Though the municipal certainly needs to pull up its socks and make a concerted effort in waste management, it is also up to us citizens to keep our surroundings clean. For the sake of pride, if for nothing else!
As residents of Port Blair we need to ensure that we keep our city spotless, we need to be conscious of our actions. It is a matter of great pride when we hear that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are called ‘Mini India’, but what a shame when that term is not meant as a compliment, but to describe how the filth, so familiar in the cities of the mainland, has achieved magnified proportions in this little island city.
To the public, both visiting and resident, we send out this plea - care for the environment, do not spit in public places, please dispose of things properly in garbage disposal bins, do not throw your rubbish onto the road or in a creek or in the sea! If there is a ban on plastic bags in the Andamans, it has been done so for a reason, honour that ban. Refuse plastic bags, carry cloth bags on your person instead, it is a habit which will take a little while to get used to, but will be, in the long term, beneficial to all. To hoteliers and tour-guides, we urge that you inform tourists about the need for proper waste disposal, do not tolerate littering in any fashion, it will transform the face of our island!
We urge the local administration as well as the citizens of Andaman and Nicobar Islands to take concrete steps to beautify Port Blair and other areas of habitation. This does not just include areas like VIP Road and the Marine Drive, but every area - the battered tin roofs that scar the skyline, the rotting, unpainted homes, the tangled mess of wires and cables, the unplanned construction, the overflowing garbage dumps- our towns in the Andamans are soon beginning to look like the slums in Mainland India!
We all need to move around with our eyes open and make changes to our community, tangible changes, changes that can improve the future of these islands and help us stand proud that we are not only an example to Mainland India, in our ability to stand together in communal harmony, but also an example to our country that we can live in harmony with our environment!
We hope that we can all stand together as a community and make a positive difference.
Mrs. Gagan Ghuman
Secretary,
Defence Wives Welfare Association
All along the roads, in every vacant lot, in the waterways and even in the undergrowth one can see all manner of garbage, piling up, spilling over and fouling the city in its unsightly decay. The filth that surrounds every patch of habitation in the Andamans has even leached into the rainforests and the precious coral reefs. Still there remains a certain, inexplicable, apathy towards it, as if the filth were non existent or perhaps someone else’s problem.
The pristine untouched beauty, fabled to the Andamans, is getting harder and harder to find - everywhere one seems to go the litter follows. It exists in the sea, washed onto isolated islands, tangled in the coral; it exists in the forest, among the trees, in the mangroves, along the ATR.
In the city of Port Blair itself, garbage is to be found everywhere, the most easily found substance on an island where commercialisation is yet to hit!
There seems to have been a well-intentioned ban on plastic bags announced by the local administration in the area, but this ban has neither been honoured, nor regulated or enforced. Grocery shops, vegetable vendors and all other commercial outlets continue to provide plastic carry-bags and consumers continue to demand it.
This is not a letter attempting to point fingers; we are all to blame for this mess. We each need to be conscious of our actions as a community; we cannot blame the administration for not cleaning up our mess. Though the municipal certainly needs to pull up its socks and make a concerted effort in waste management, it is also up to us citizens to keep our surroundings clean. For the sake of pride, if for nothing else!
As residents of Port Blair we need to ensure that we keep our city spotless, we need to be conscious of our actions. It is a matter of great pride when we hear that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are called ‘Mini India’, but what a shame when that term is not meant as a compliment, but to describe how the filth, so familiar in the cities of the mainland, has achieved magnified proportions in this little island city.
To the public, both visiting and resident, we send out this plea - care for the environment, do not spit in public places, please dispose of things properly in garbage disposal bins, do not throw your rubbish onto the road or in a creek or in the sea! If there is a ban on plastic bags in the Andamans, it has been done so for a reason, honour that ban. Refuse plastic bags, carry cloth bags on your person instead, it is a habit which will take a little while to get used to, but will be, in the long term, beneficial to all. To hoteliers and tour-guides, we urge that you inform tourists about the need for proper waste disposal, do not tolerate littering in any fashion, it will transform the face of our island!
We urge the local administration as well as the citizens of Andaman and Nicobar Islands to take concrete steps to beautify Port Blair and other areas of habitation. This does not just include areas like VIP Road and the Marine Drive, but every area - the battered tin roofs that scar the skyline, the rotting, unpainted homes, the tangled mess of wires and cables, the unplanned construction, the overflowing garbage dumps- our towns in the Andamans are soon beginning to look like the slums in Mainland India!
We all need to move around with our eyes open and make changes to our community, tangible changes, changes that can improve the future of these islands and help us stand proud that we are not only an example to Mainland India, in our ability to stand together in communal harmony, but also an example to our country that we can live in harmony with our environment!
We hope that we can all stand together as a community and make a positive difference.
Mrs. Gagan Ghuman
Secretary,
Defence Wives Welfare Association