The mass appeal of ‘Swachh’

Charminar: For years now, the Old City lived in the shadow of poorly-maintained roads and rampant civic negligence. But, not anymore. Thanks to the recent beautification and road re-carpeting undertaken to “please” global delegates that included advisor to US President, Ivanka Trump in wake of Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) people are expecting the aesthetically-pleasing endeavour to persist.

People in the Old City now want to see their localities clean and properly maintained and they are ready to contribute towards it. It is to be noted that many streets near Falaknuma and other prominent streets including Charminar were well-maintained during GES. Places that were known for piles of garbage appeared clean much to the surprise of many.

People were astonished that their localities could be maintained to that extent. A resident of Engine Bowli near Falaknuma, Saleem Ahmed said that it was an imaginary situation for them. “We did not expect the authorities to take beautification measures at this level. Most of the major streets and lanes were clean and roads were re-carpeted. We were happy to see our localities so beautiful and we don’t want to miss these developments,” he said.

Notably, beautification was not undertaken in the interior streets and colonies, however people have spoken in support of maintaining the streets. Behavioral Trainer, Tahwar Ali Khan, said that people need to train their minds if they want to achieve what they long for. He opined that the Old City has seen transformation of sorts in many prominent places and this has motivated them.

“This is the right time that civic authorities must involve people in the drive for maintaining the city clean and beautiful,” he said and added that the message of cleanliness went into the masses following the global events.