On Sunday, at a function held to welcome the runners of Endurance – 4.0, a marathon organised to promote road safety as part of launch of ‘Spandan 2016’ at Gandhi Thidal, Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi did some plainspeaking. The LG used the occasion to vent out her anger against the public and officials for what she perceived as a rather casual attitude towards ensuring cleanliness in the Union Territory.
In an emotional outburst, Kiran Bedi said that she would pack her bags and leave if people did not join hands with her to clean Puducherry.
“I am not here for a job. I was not jobless before becoming Lieutenant Governor. I had enough work to do. I have plenty of work and engagements all over the world. I have my own two foundations where thousands of students wait for me. I have left my home and work to serve Puducherry. But, if you think only the Lieutenant Governor will clean the streets, then I will let you be punished by leaving the city as shabby as it is,” she said.
She added: “I am putting you on notice. I will give you four weeks. In October, I will decide whether to stay or go.”
Coming straight from the dumping yard in Kurumbapet to the venue, the Lieutenant Governor was frustrated to see plastic cups strewn on the roads.
After congratulating International Association of Lions Club, JIPMER Students’ Association and Traffic Police, Puducherry, for organising the festival, the Lieutenant Governor said she had something serious to talk about.
Stating that it was her 20th morning round of weekend cleaning drive as a Lieutenant Governor, Ms.Bedi said: “Cleaning the streets is not the job of the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry. It is not my job. It is our job. This is the 20th morning round I have gone to the dump yard. My shoes are all dirty. While we the people dirty the street, drains, your Lieutenant Governor is cleaning the drains. Is this the right way?”
She complained that senior officials have refused to join her during the weekend visits. “Every school, market association, NGO, head of the institution and parent has a duty. You think only the LG should will drive it. I have done it for the last three months and how many more months you want me to do? I have told my secretary that during my next weekend morning rounds, I will be with officers who are supposed to be decision makers, including the honorable minister. It is the job of the officers, ministers you have elected. I am just a person who is nominated. You people have elected the public representatives and you must demand them to be on the roads to do the cleaning. I will be part of the team and not the only one,” she said.
“Even now when I was coming here the roads were full of plastic glasses. The message to the youth of Puducherry is if you want a better, healthy and clean Puducherry, you have to take the responsibility for your area. You have to make this into a movement.”
No incinerators
“Every weekend, I have gone to the dump yard. It has got plastic, dead animals and all kinds of waste because we are not segregating at the source. I saw a dead dog, pig, cow floating in the lake and drains. Is that the place to dump carcasses?”
“Puducherry does not even have an incinerator. You are throwing dead animals in the drains. During the monsoon, the houses will be flooded again and we will ask the government of India to send Rs. 200 crore to compensate.” She left the venue after her speech without distributing prizes to the winners.
