‘City residents excel in misconduct’

Rawalpindi: A city survey has found people spitting, littering, and using impolite language on the Rawalpindi city roads. A lack of civic sense was evident among Pindiites with many citizens excelling in these habits.

“The survey was on Human Behavior in Public Places conducted by university students, which found that misbehavior on roads and other public places was a normal scene in most of the market areas in the city,” says Nisar Turabi.

“In Commercial Market Satellite Town, close to Refreshment Center, within a span of 40 minutes, I saw 19 people, including 18 men and a woman, who spat on the road,” says Konain Zahra, a surveyor.

“I surveyed Chandni Chowk area and came across 49 people spitting in public places. They included 48 men and a woman,” says another surveyor, Kaneez Fatima.

“We have been surveying human behavior in public places of Rawalpindi city for the last three years. We do not find a remarkable change in their attitude,” says Nasir Zaidi, head of the department, under whose guidance the survey was undertaken.

“The survey started in 2019 and students visited around 20 localities and observed the behavior of the people. In 2019 and 2020, the students selected another 40 localities for the survey. The findings of the survey in every locality were more or less the same. Middle-aged people mostly did littering,” adds Nasir.

“In Urdu Bazaar Market, I came across twenty-five people, including nine middle-aged people, who threw away fruit peels, paper, plastic packets, and wrappers within an hour’s time on a particular day,” says Zafaryaab Haider.

“In various Saddar markets, surveyors saw 131 people littering indiscriminately in the markets in just half an hour. In fact, there are not enough dustbins in the market areas. Littering has become a bad habit of the people,” says Ghufran Ali, a member of the surveying team.

“The common types of misbehavior are using impolite language and showing disrespect to women. I found as many as 88 people misbehaving in Raja Bazaar area markets within an hour on the day the surveyors visited the place,” says Zaamin Abbas, another member of the surveying team.

“Why people despite being educated lack civic sense to keep their city clean? Many outclass each other in spitting, littering, misbehaving, and using foul language,” says Adeem Hussain surveyor of Dhoke Khabba.

“On Iqbal Road, close to Committee Chowk, where fish shops abound, within a span of half an hour I saw one evening ten people, who spat on the ground,” says Aali Rizvi, another surveyor.

Afia Batool says, “The tale of every neighborhood is more or less the same. Littering is mostly done by middle-aged people, who are just seen sneaking out of their houses when the streets are empty and throw the garbage onto the street or the nearby vacant plot.”