The first thing that hits you when you enter Bombay / Mumbai from anywhere is "The Smell". Yes not the crowd or the buildings, those come later, the stench of garbage, pollution, etc. Whats funny is a few hours into the place and you get used to the smell so much that it stops being a bother.
Next what bothers me is "The Noise" What is this about honking? What I fail to understand why do people honk when they can see that 5 vehicles ahead of them are not moving. Or the signal has not even changed. What is the driver ahead supposed to do fly? or should he honk as well as if in Chinese whispers all ahead will honk and we will reach our destination just like that.
What about "Spitting". Forget the uneducated, even the educated, open the doors of their cars or while walking down the street feel the need to spit, guess they took paint the town red literally.
And can anyone do anything about "The Pissing & Crapping" on the streets, guess when there is a need people will just do the deed.. and what does one say about "The Garbage", I could challenge anyone to walk a mile in this city without finding or rather stepping on some.
Also what I do not understand is "The Potholes" if you do manage to find a decent stretch of road that is not being currently dug, you are defiantly going to find holes in the road, some of them big enough to swallow a car.
So where do these problems originate, a corrupt government? BMC who is more concerned in filling their pockets? A slow influx of people coming from all over into this city or is it just us. Do we not care enough to fix these? Are there solutions to these problems? Can these be fixed overnight?
I would go to say of course these can be fixed, it would take the masses who live here along with a little help of those in power to make that change. Here are some of the options.
# It would not take too much for the government to make it compulsory that every few acres of land should have a minimum number of large trees, for starters this city needs open space's and every time land is opened up to development they should make sure that greenery is increased. A lot more plants will definitely reduce the problem of smell,
# People should make sure that their society and their surrounding areas have a decent amount of greenery.
# Use of solar, wind etc should be made cheaper and compulsory in some places. This would go a long way in reducing pollution.
# Its simple to stop people from excessive honking, a hefty fine should do the trick
# May be the cop should just go ahead and cut off the horn in a vehicle that is honking unnecessarily.
# May be electric horns are banned completely and air horns which take a effort to blow should replace these.
# Another option is fix the sound of the horn inside the car, so every time the driver honks he is the one to hear it the loudest.
# People caught spitting should be made to pay a fine and clean the spit with whatever they have on themselves, I guess that should be bad enough to make people think twice before spitting again.
# There definitely needs to be a lot more public toilets built everywhere, in fact every 2000 - 4000 meters should have a public loo which should be maintained. people will pay and use if these are clean.
# Catch someone throwing garbage anywhere and he should be made to sweep the entire street with a colourful vest to show that they have been caught. Guess embarrassment should stop them from doing this again.
# Dedicate a page in the newspaper to the people caught spitting and pissing with suitable headlines. this would stop others who would not bother about paying fines.
# Of course increase the number of garbage cans.
# Get people responsible for the area around them for eg. shopkeepers should be fined for garbage outside their shop's or society's fined if they have kept their area dirty.
# Road maintenance should be the responsibility of the one fixing / making it, when these contracts are given out make sure that the contractor is responsible for that road for 3-4 years and that all repair work done on that road during that time should done free of cost and at the earliest. That would keep them from using cheap materials and shoddy work. And if delayed they should be banned from any contracts for the next 5 years.
I am sure that there are many more solutions as there are many more problems. But a step in the right direction can change this city so much. I love this city, just wish it could be better.
Next what bothers me is "The Noise" What is this about honking? What I fail to understand why do people honk when they can see that 5 vehicles ahead of them are not moving. Or the signal has not even changed. What is the driver ahead supposed to do fly? or should he honk as well as if in Chinese whispers all ahead will honk and we will reach our destination just like that.
What about "Spitting". Forget the uneducated, even the educated, open the doors of their cars or while walking down the street feel the need to spit, guess they took paint the town red literally.
And can anyone do anything about "The Pissing & Crapping" on the streets, guess when there is a need people will just do the deed.. and what does one say about "The Garbage", I could challenge anyone to walk a mile in this city without finding or rather stepping on some.
Also what I do not understand is "The Potholes" if you do manage to find a decent stretch of road that is not being currently dug, you are defiantly going to find holes in the road, some of them big enough to swallow a car.
So where do these problems originate, a corrupt government? BMC who is more concerned in filling their pockets? A slow influx of people coming from all over into this city or is it just us. Do we not care enough to fix these? Are there solutions to these problems? Can these be fixed overnight?
I would go to say of course these can be fixed, it would take the masses who live here along with a little help of those in power to make that change. Here are some of the options.
# It would not take too much for the government to make it compulsory that every few acres of land should have a minimum number of large trees, for starters this city needs open space's and every time land is opened up to development they should make sure that greenery is increased. A lot more plants will definitely reduce the problem of smell,
# People should make sure that their society and their surrounding areas have a decent amount of greenery.
# Use of solar, wind etc should be made cheaper and compulsory in some places. This would go a long way in reducing pollution.
# Its simple to stop people from excessive honking, a hefty fine should do the trick
# May be the cop should just go ahead and cut off the horn in a vehicle that is honking unnecessarily.
# May be electric horns are banned completely and air horns which take a effort to blow should replace these.
# Another option is fix the sound of the horn inside the car, so every time the driver honks he is the one to hear it the loudest.
# People caught spitting should be made to pay a fine and clean the spit with whatever they have on themselves, I guess that should be bad enough to make people think twice before spitting again.
# There definitely needs to be a lot more public toilets built everywhere, in fact every 2000 - 4000 meters should have a public loo which should be maintained. people will pay and use if these are clean.
# Catch someone throwing garbage anywhere and he should be made to sweep the entire street with a colourful vest to show that they have been caught. Guess embarrassment should stop them from doing this again.
# Dedicate a page in the newspaper to the people caught spitting and pissing with suitable headlines. this would stop others who would not bother about paying fines.
# Of course increase the number of garbage cans.
# Get people responsible for the area around them for eg. shopkeepers should be fined for garbage outside their shop's or society's fined if they have kept their area dirty.
# Road maintenance should be the responsibility of the one fixing / making it, when these contracts are given out make sure that the contractor is responsible for that road for 3-4 years and that all repair work done on that road during that time should done free of cost and at the earliest. That would keep them from using cheap materials and shoddy work. And if delayed they should be banned from any contracts for the next 5 years.
I am sure that there are many more solutions as there are many more problems. But a step in the right direction can change this city so much. I love this city, just wish it could be better.
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