In the shadows
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While the Taj gets all the spotlight, Agra struggles to find solutions to problems of sanitation that haunt the city. ANJANA RAJAN
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Photo: Rajeev Bhatt
Cyber polls anyone? A bustling part of Agra.
The analogy of the lotus that blooms in a swamp seems made for the hallowed Taj Mahal. The only difference is the Taj stands in front of a swamp, which was once the sacred River Yamuna. It also rises above the sea of garbage that is Agra city. But th
ese and other unpalatable aspects have not kept Agra from being one of the most famous and visited cities of India.
In an era of swank packaging, the Taj stands out as a quality product horrifyingly packaged. Even after a private company whipped up worldwide cyber frenzy in getting people to vote the Taj into a list of New Seven Wonders of the World, Agra citizens remained largely untouched, resigned as they were to an uneasy coexistence of aesthetic heights and civic despair. N.R. Smith, a resident whose family has been in Agra for seven generations, says of Mayor Anjula Singh, “She says we will make Agra an international city. If she walks around my locality without soiling her sari up to the knees, I will reward her.”
No wonder the mayor was reported to have said that of all the votes polled for the Taj, fewest came from the Agra and Uttar Pradesh region.
Changing the package
At last though, there seems to be an administrator in the city determined to change the package. Shyam Singh Yadav, Municipal Commissioner, begins, “We are trying our best.” But it is not merely a defensive line. “Recently I have deployed sanitation workers in a reasonable way. Earlier they were deployed in some areas while other areas had none.” The reason for non-availability of workers is a genuine shortage of manpower, he says. “Imagine, for a population of 14 lakhs, there are only 2,700 sanitation workers. Each worker has five or six roads to cover. They also don’t come on the dot at seven in the morning. And we do have to see it from the humanitarian angle”.
Women especially, he points out, come after sending their children to school. Instead of adopting the stick policy, he opts for carrots. The government has started giving incentives, keeping a lookout for good sanitation workers and rewarding five women in each ward of the city with a sari every month. Similarly, five of their male colleagues get a gift.
Udayee Ram, Agra’s ADM, Protocol, sounds less proactive, saying tourism and hotel officials are having meetings to discuss problems like bad roads, chaotic traffic, power shortages et al. Meetings do not make news. As Smith says, “There have been plans for the development of Agra since 1950.” The District Magistrates “come only for a while, fill their pockets and go.”
Yadav, though, is raring to go. “Also, I see there are a lot of complaints to do with the Taj. I went the other day with my staff and cleared up the approach roads,” he declares. A problem area, finds Yadav, is the mess caused by the horses and camels pulling the eco-friendly vehicles that bring tourists to the monument. “The Supreme Court has said the tongas can’t be got rid of, so we have to reach a compromise,” he explains.
His idea, picked up in New York City, where horse-drawn vehicles ferry tourists, involves attaching a bag to the horse to catch the droppings. In India, though, where toilets with plumbing are still unheard of in some areas, the idea of emptying sanitary disposal bags for horses is repugnant to the average tongawallah. “They say these things are not done anywhere else in India,” relates Yadav, not without compassion. However, he says if persuasion fails to make the tonga drivers comply within a stipulated period, punitive steps will have to be taken.
The camel carts are another story. The anatomy of the camel rules out the bag method, notes Yadav, adding, “But no oont wallah is ready to clean up. They are concerned only with their money. We have already had three meetings.
”
On a tight budget
That leaves the option of vacuum sweepers for the streets, but one such, says Yadav, costs three crore rupees. His entire budget comes from house tax collections. This amount has to be distributed between all the expenses, including road repairs, sewage, etc. “But we are trying to get some money together for one vacuum machine.”
Yadav, credited with starting the Taj Municipal Museum, attempts to raise citizens’ awareness. For three months his team has been going door to door to raise funds and organises residents’ welfare associations. Every household is given two bins, for biodegradable and non-biodegradable garbage, and pays Rs.20 to a rickshaw puller to collect it. Such a scheme is no longer novel, but it is only slowly taking root in Agra. Why?
People feel their duty ends with paying taxes, he offers. Besides, he says, “There are 90 corporators, and not even one association could be made. The Nagar Nigam is not for household garbage.”
Also, customers buying food from itinerant vendors drop banana peels and pattals (leaf containers) all over. They can be issued a challaan, but the process to retrieve the fine is cumbersome. “There should b
e an amendment to the act and we should be able to fine them on the spot,” feels Yadav, adding such steps are out of his purview.
The Taj, once referred to as the eighth wonder of the world, is now ensconced among the seven. The eighth slot is open. Will a cleaned up Agra make the cut?
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