Democracy also people's responsibility
As consumers of public property it's not enough to pay our taxes. Civic consumption of our common resources is also our duty not just because it is expected of us but also to ensure continued usage of what we perceive as our 'taken-for-granted' right.
Feeding stray animals is not wrong, what's wrong is endangering their lives and ours in the process. The video above showcases the multiple threats that the society is causing to itself by their flippant, thoughtless actions. The Dwarka – Palam flyover connecting Dwarka to the rest of the world via the Palam colony is a very busy flyover all through the day and especially in the peak hours. It is at this point that a lot of motorists park their vehicles at the landing of the flyover and feed the cows – some care to descend from their vehicles and feed the cows, most others simply hurl food or food packets in this stretch of the road most times just littering the road and the footpath. For most people this has become the new dumping ground of their household wastes. This stretch of the road has been rendered impassable on foot and has an insufferable stench.
'Gai hamari Mata hai', really?
Even if the cows consume the food, anyone would know that cows do not have a sieve in their mouths or bellies, they cannot filter out the plastics and aluminum leading to painful deaths that human beings bear no responsibility of. You are not helping them! Or the civic authorities! If social work or religious faith prompts such actions what about 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness'? Why should someone else clear up the muck after you?
These 'so-called' devotees blatantly dismiss the impatient honking of the vehicles behind them and the near-collision probability.
Maverick bikers' sloppy slope
There are graver violations of civic sense and traffic rules at this small stretch of the road. If the above misplaced reverence was not enough, just few meters ahead of this patch is a dodgy specimen of engineering by some smart aleck who has placed a slope to enable bikers and scooterists to climb onto the footpath and the service road to gain speed which saves them only about 5 minutes approximately. Again this causes a stream of motorists queuing up to use this ingenious elevation blocking half the road for other commuters in the process.
Piquing the 'No-tolerance' zone
In the video above we can also view motorists navigating a u-turn towards the left under the flyover despite a prominent signpost prohibiting it. Ironically this is the Delhi cantonment area with prominent 'No-tolerance' sign posts strewn in the entire stretch of the road. On the opposite side of the same road is another case of gross violation of public places and civic duties. The sidewalk has been encroached by some residents of the Palam colony who have usurped this land to house their domestic animals and re-purpose the cowdung accumulating here. One can see several passersby stopping here too to pay homage.
With half a dozen man-made obstacles on one road alone can we really blame the government for inadequate infrastructure? Halting by the public places for these personal activities and being a nuisance to co-users of this space is certainly uncivil and irresponsible behavior. When our own behavior is questionable can we really point fingers at the government? We too, are accountable for Swachh Bharat as consumers of the facilities granted to us.