Doha: Launched in March via cryptic messages on billboards and road-side signs, Qatar’s latest campaign aimed at improving awareness about cleanliness and environmental consciousness may finally begin to make an impact. What started out as an anti-littering campaign five months ago has now been turned into a stern move by the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning to ensure Qatar’s roads, beaches and neighbourhoods become cleaner and more environment-friendly.
The initial hoardings, which carried the message ‘We all see you, you are not alone’, elicited a confused response from residents, with some taking it to be a social campaign to help the needy and others believing it was a neighbourhood watch warning. However, lately, the ministry has announced that those found littering in public places will have to cough up fines. Starting with 100 riyals for leaving food waste outside homes, the fines go up to 600 riyals for transporting construction material or other goods uncovered causing them to spill on the road.
While the move has been appreciated by most residents, they remain sceptical about its success or the ministry’s ability to keep a watch on violators and punish them. When Gulf News tried to get in touch with officials on the helpline number provided for reporting violations, we were rerouted to several other numbers and were eventually unable to speak with any officials regarding the campaign.
The fact that the campaign communication has been displayed in several languages, including Arabic, English, Hindi, Malayalam and Urdu, shows that the government is targeting all sections of the population in its attempt to tackle the increasingly common sight of litter on the streets.
Authorities have promised to make available more bins and make other necessary arrangements to help keep the country clean. However, a visit to the corniche, West Bay beach or even the more distant SeaLine beach reveals that littering is still quite rampant. The Katara Cultural Village beach, which has an entry fee of 100 riyals, paints a much cleaner picture but enforcing penalties would make beaches inaccessible to a large section of the population. Several beach clean-up campaigns have been carried out in recent years, and some individuals and families take it upon themselves to clear the mess but rubbish including plastic bags, empty food containers and even glass bottles continue to wash up along stretches of the coastline.
“Whenever I make a picnic plan with my family, I try to avoid the more common beaches and try to go the farthest I can simply because I do not want my children to play in an area surrounded with rubbish,” Mark Albert, a Doha resident, told Gulf News.
CEO Qatargas Khalid Bin Khalifa Al Thani said his company, which is the ministry’s main sponsor in the three-year campaign, will be “at the forefront of ensuring the environment we all live in is the nicest we can possibly make it” when the partnership was announced last year. While it is evident that the three million riyals provided by Qatargas are being splashed out on billboards as well as advertisements in local and social media, it remains to be seen whether the campaign will make a marked difference to Qatar’s landscape.
— Hafsa Adil is a journalist based in Doha
