●THUS WROTE MAHATMA GANDHI ABOUT GAYA● INSANITARY GAYA- ‘’I have no desire to advertise the insanitation of Gaya, a price among the holy places of Hinduism. It was because my Hindu soul rebelled against the stinking cess pools I saw in a principal street of Gaya that I was obliged to draw pointed attention to it in my reply to the address of the Gaya municipality. I am aware that there are many holy places which are insanitary enough. But I do not remember having seen anything like what I saw in Gaya. It is possible that I have not been taken to the dirty places in other sacred places. But insanitation need not be weighed in golden scaled. Gaya I am using merely as an example in order to draw the attention of all municipalities that sanitation of their cities must be their first care. This one thing must be above municipal politics, parties and intrigues. Just as it must be the care of every party in an municipality to keep its finance pure and above suspicion, so it must be the sacred duty of every party in a Municipality to keep the sanitation of its city in perfect order and above suspicion. Every Municipality should constitute itself a model school for teaching the science of sanitation. Of city sanitation we have not yet much knowledge. We do not the use of city latrines. We do not know how to use our drains. It has to be admitted, therefore, that our Municipalities have an arduous task before them in handling this great and important problem. But handled it must be whatever the difficulties. It becomes much more important in sacred cities which are visited by lacs of people from year to year. There was no reason for the foul cesspools I noticed in Gaya. There is no reason why people should be allowed to dirty river banks. There are many things which Municipalities can, if they will only treat the cities under their care as if they were their own houses, remedy without much difficulty or hindrance from the citizens. But the difficulty comes from within. Municipal councillors are often indifferent and sometimes obstruct their own elected chairman. Sometimes they are absorbed in internal quarrels and neglect sanitation. It is high time that we developed a healthy sense of civic duty. In this matter we have much to learn from the West. People of the West are builders of big cities. They know the value of fresh air, clean water and clean surroundings. Any city that would attend to its sanitation in a proper spirit will add to both its health and wealth. Sacred cities ought to lead the way in this matter. They have opportunities which other do not possess. There is a great deal of wisdom in the English proverb ‘cleanliness is next to godliness.’ Manu, Moses and Mohamed have laid down laws of sanitation suited to their times. These have to be elaborated in keeping with the modern requirements. It is enough to know from these ancient lawgivers that they held cleanliness to be of a truly religious life.’’ Young India 3rd February, 1927.’’ Courtesy: The writing and speeches of Mahatma Gandhi in Bihar 1917-1947
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 14:54:41 +0000
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