“It is our collective
responsibility to ensure that where we live remain clean, safe, well organized,
and beautiful, for all times to come”
His Majesty The
King of Bhutan, address to the Nation, 109th National Day, 17
December 2016
It is about time Bhutanese respect the genuine concern
remarked by His Majesty and not take His Majesty’s vision for clean society lightly.
We are lucky to have such humble leadership with broad vision for Bhutanese and
Bhutan.
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| Vials and syringes [Buddha Point] Collected by Barma Enteprises |
Bhutanese at large has always been a “great” planner and law
makers, but has always been bad implementer of what transcribed from
the meeting or the plans. We somehow fail to continue what was initiated and
leave the great initiatives to face natural and slow dead. We have many
profound Acts and Rules, however we tend to implement what is inside the Acts
and Rules for about a week and then forget after that. I suppose, it is a
disease we have, which we fail to understand and accept it as our disease.
We have Waste Prevention and Management Act of Bhutan
2009; Waste Prevention and Management Regulation 2012 of Bhutan; and Thimphu
city have its own waste management rule titled Thimphu Municipal Solid Waste
Management Rules and Regulations 2007. To
add to all these wonderful rules, Bhutan introduced total plastic ban in 1999. During my yesteryears,
I remember officials [not sure from which organization] imposing penalties to
shopkeepers using plastic carry bags and also those using plastics to wrap doma
khamtos. Had we continued to enforce plastic ban strictly, Bhutan
would have been another country by now.
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| Typical drain in Thimphu city [2014] |
However, all efforts of government and
private organizations seem to not work with Thimphu and rest of Bhutan
decorated with trash. Don’t believe me – take a walk on the streets of Thimphu;
check the drains of our city. I tried wherever possible to pick and deposit it
in waste bins, but finding a waste bin is cumbersome in the morning. I suppose
our shopkeepers are afraid of losing their waste bins as it can’t be seen in
front of their shops early morning. All our city drains and drainage systems
are clogged: a light shower today had Thimphu flooded, lucky that it wasn’t a
prolonged one.
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| Clean Bhutan's tweet today [14 May, 2017] |
Curious, I checked Thimphu
Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules and Regulations 2007. It is a well
written rule and covers wide areas of waste management, but what caught my
attention was Chapter II, clause 3, as it provides authority to appoint
environmental inspectors.
Environmental inspectors are appointed with strong
responsibilities and powers and some of the prime ones are:
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Power to levy fines to litter bugs
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Issue waste management penalty tickets
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Apprehend offender [if caught red-handed]
At this rate of population growth and haphazard waste
disposal, Thimphu is pushing itself to a problem. It is about time that as a
Bhutanese, we take pride in our country and make it clean and safe to live.
Thimphu is home to 13% of Bhutan’s population and if everyone takes waste
management seriously, making Thimphu waste free isn’t a herculean task. If
Thimphubs can all agree on a date and undertake massive cleaning of city,
Thimphu shall be back to its glory – and it must be repeated at-least a month
for a year. If this can’t be done, every Thimphubs should make contributions of Nu.
100.00 each to Clean Bhutan or Thimphu Thromde, as it can turn out to be a big
one if everyone contributes and help in keeping Thimphu clean.
With a wish to see clean capital of ours.
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