Not littering a public amenity is a basic expectation

(From left) Plastic bottles and food wrappers litter the slopes below the Malabar Hill treetop walkway (middle) Garbage strewn across the green slopes near the walkway just nine months since inauguration (right) Plastic waste scattered along the trail below the walkway. Pics/By Special Arrangement

What was meant to be a pleasant, aesthetic walk through south Mumbai's green canopy is now ugly. A year after its inauguration, the Malabar Hill treetop walkway is overlooking slopes littered with plastic waste as tourists toss snack packets and bottles off the edge of the Hanging Gardens, turning a forest experience into a walk overlooking a dumping ground.

Post the inauguration, garbage is steadily piling up on the hill slopes below this walkway and around it, our front page report stated.

It is disappointing to note that tourists/visitors, or maybe even some locals, are tarnishing a beautiful area with this behaviour. While there are those who claim that we need more personnel to man the walkway and rules that disallow snacks on the walkway, it is better if we have a change in mindset. People must themselves realise this is wrong, in fact, criminal.

We need to have civic sense, and this shows the importance of growing up with the basics drilled into you. Cleanliness is next to Godliness is not just an adage; we need to live it, breathe it and practice it.

Yet, this may be utopian and unrealistic and it is long-term. In the short term, more signage asking for no littering at these places, more bins and attendants warning people not to throw garbage will help to some extent. It is unfortunate that we as people scream about more green, highlight shrinking open spaces, cite environmental concerns and then, some defile the view from a vantage walkway through the forest in this way.

Rules can be tightened, but the true transformation, which is long-term, should be in our DNA, simply becomes second nature to us. When one is not brought up with a responsibility to keep our public spaces clean, then all the waste bins in the world may not be enough.