One evening while Mozammel Haque, was commuting back home from work on his bicycle, a passenger from a nearby bus threw a burning match-stick towards him. Though the match-stick hit Mozammel, luckily it did not cause him any harm other than creating slight inconvenience.
On another day, while Tanim Ahmed, another bicyclist, was commuting, a passenger from a nearby bus spat at him, causing him some indignation as he had to stop and wipe of the spit from his clothes.
Similar to Mozammel and Tanim, many other cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians while commuting had had the experience of being struck by burning match-sticks, lighted cigarettes, empty water bottles, candy wraps, snack wraps and other types of trash that were thrown towards them by bus passengers, passengers of other motorised vehicles, rickshaws and even from cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians. Some of them also had the experience of being struck by vomiting bus passengers.
Although, littering is against law, it is a common practice of many city-dwellers in Dhaka. What is worse is that people often do it quite consciously, without bothering that the stuff that they are littering may cause a great deal of inconvenience to someone else and, most importantly, it may cause serious injury to someone.
For example, if candy wraps and snack wraps fall on someone he or she may be disgusted for the time being, or slightly inconvenienced. But it makes a lot of difference when a burning match-sticks or lighted cigarette is thrown on someone. In that case, there is a chance that the person may catch fire and get seriously injured.
Similar to littering, spitting in public places is another disgusting habit of many city dwellers in Dhaka. Surprisingly, people do not even check their surroundings before spitting and do it at their free will while walking on the sidewalks or while travelling on a bus, rickshaw or other transports without realising that the sight of spitting is not only disgusting but it is also infectious as it may contain germs and bacteria. Doctors describe spitting as one of the most unhygienic human habits that spreads air-borne diseases like tuberculosis (TB).
Besides creating nuisance to commuters, the uncivilised habits such as littering and spitting are also polluting the city and spreading diseases. Most importantly, it is degrading the quality of our city life.
Social awareness campaigns should be conducted by the government highlighting the negative impacts of littering and spitting. To prevent littering the city authorities should provide dustbins in public places at regular distances. In addition, fines should be imposed against littering and spitting so that the city dwellers refrain from picking up these poor habits.
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