Monday, August 11, 2008

It's time to Clean-up, Marshal!

Now this is a 'neat' idea! A friend and I had discussed about this 7 or 8 years ago, when the Ghatkopar police had collected heavy fines for smoking/ tobacco chewing in public places. Apparently, the campaign died an eventual death as bribery reared its ugly head. It was then, as young lads of 15 that we had discussed about delegating this job to volunteer kids for two reasons.
1. Most do not have to shoulder familial responsibilities; they aren't the primary earning members anyway
2. They would actually do it in the right spirit and take pride in the job they do

What better, the BMC is finally doing it! The article says...

Next time you litter, do not be surprised if a youth walks up to you and slaps a fine on you. And if you act tough and refuse to pay up, you might just end up doing community service. If you refuse that too, be prepared to cool your hoity-toity heels behind bars.

The BMC on Friday gave around 2,000 student volunteers the powers of a clean-up marshal. It means that they too can fine litterbugs.


They have even been given cool names: 'Clean-up Marshals'. They move in groups - for safety, of course. And add to that an authorized security personnel. Students get to earn their own pocket money - a social responsibility is bred and a huge amount of civic sense incorporated. Extend this to other areas. Pay for performance. And see how the world changes.

On this note - Pune, you flaunt arguably the country's biggest student density - my bets are on it being an immaculate success if launched in Pune. Whatsay, Pune?

7 comments:

Daneshia said...

Hmm true, Pune can benefit from this. But sadly it doesn't have BMC. So if it happens ever, it'll be a miracle!

Abinav Kumar said...

If you do know of any NGO that does something remotely close to this - you could pass them this link. And have a talk with them - I can assure you it works. Not sure how much the BMC initiative is going to work - I liked the idea nevertheless.

Daneshia said...

hmm....

gr8_thinking said...

hey, i am from mumbai, and want to join this drive of bieng a 'clean-up marshal'
i searched the net...but didn't get ne info..
if u know sumthing...can u tell me plz?

Abinav Kumar said...

hey gr8 thinking...

i do not know anything about this either... I think BMC handpicked the schools and students! You might want to talk to school authorities nearby or even the municipality office in your ward!

Aparna said...

I was unaware of this. But it is smart of BMC to pick up students and put the responsibility on them and also not have to deal by themself on this. Coz, I had read an article about South Korea, where the government said they would reward people who would spot vehicles that speed or miss the red light. SO the government actually had to revert back from the decision as theyre were hundreds of people calling in everyday to claim their awards by reporting the speeding vehicles. The government actually had too much fund drain... I was actually thinking that this could never work in India. But the plan to let the volunteers collect and keep themoney is brilliant. Great......



Aparna

Abinav Kumar said...

I am not sure if they let you keep the money. But as far as kids are concerned - I am pretty sure most of them are not in this for the money! :)