Sylvia's Journal

From my fourth floor hotel room I watch two men pick through a 6 foot garbage dumpster. Five dogs stand around them. One man stands inside the dumpster, the other on the outside.  Both are barefooted. The dogs get thrown scraps from time to time and wiggle their tales, as if saying, more, more. 

The men are sorting through the garbage which is now half inside and half outside the dumpster. This, I think, is one of the challenges of city government. But I am wrong. After breakfast I see they are still at it, but now they are cleaning up the mess they made: all recyclables are in neatly tied up in plastic bags, a plastic drum with something else is being covered; a metal oil drum is placed on their cart, looks like it has food scraps (the garbage container is next to one hotel and across from mine).

The men have swept the area clean, now wearing hotel slippers and flipflops. I understand later that these may be cleaners to whom the city has outsourced its recycling program. Several hours for one small garbage dumpster – I wonder how many of these people are employed and what they make. But cheap labor is of course in abundance here.

When I join my team mates at the most amazing sweets (and other things) restaurant next to our hotel I see that the streets have been swept clean (somewhat) – the green and clean Lucknow banners I have seen all over the city, starting at the airport are not just clichés. There is action and, clearly, money, behind the initiative, and it is not just ‘green for a day.’

Later I learned from one of the local elected officials that her ward in Agra muncipality (the one where the Taj Mahal is located) has won first prize in ‘cleanest ward’ in the entire state (remember, a state with 232 million inhabitants!) – this is no mean feat.  The reward was 25 lakhs (about 35.000 USD) , an interesting amount, to further improve green and clean in Agra.