Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. What’s that? is a question one was prompted to ask as our news team made its way to Paladka from Mangaluru via Moodabidri this morning to attend a wedding. It was at Yedapadav, 4 Kms after Kaikamba that we observed with growing astonishment, both on the right of the winding road and to some extent on the left, the mud banks filled with garbage. There was literally no place to walk! It was strewn haphazardly, and in a state where plastic carry bags are banned – it was mostly plastic. The pictures below speak for themselves.
It is not clear if this garbage was dumped there by individuals due to a lack of a dust bin. That seems like an unlikely narrative. It does seem more like organized dumping. Hopefully with this expose’ the authorities concerned will sit up and take notice and do something about it and those responsible for dumping it.
It is not clear who is responsible for cleanliness on national highways. The Solapur – Mangaluru Highway on which it was strewn happens to be a national highway soon to be upgraded and the sight was a tragedy especially as Moodabidri is a heritage town which thousands of visitors visit by road from Mangaluru the nearest airport every year.
