Dubai
Vandalism takes on many forms, be it graffiti on the walls, scraping car paint off, damaging public recreational areas such as parks and barbecues, and many other examples of how members of society damage private and public property.
According to a Gulf News report published in June 2014, “In Dubai, fines for defacing property can start at Dh500, which doubles for a repeat offence,” and according to the same report, “some 80 per cent of wall drawings are done by school students”. Nevertheless, vandalism still takes place and in creative ways.
Gulf News reader Prasad Warrier reports seeing a vandalised telephone connection box in his neighbourhood in Abu Shagara, Sharjah. “This box is where hundreds to thousands of telephone connections are connected,” Prasad explained.
Warrier suggests that firm safety procedures should be set and put in place in order to prevent such acts from happening.
“Such kind of unbearable acts should be condemned by the authorities by constructing a small fencing near the telephone connection box or should be protected in a way that no one dares to touch or go near the property,” Warrier said. He also says that installing CCTV cameras would help catching vandals.
Warrier thinks that such acts should be punishable by law, even to the extent of imprisonment for a few days.
“Damaging and breaking of government property, whatever it may be, should be considered a criminal offence act and should be punishable if caught with proof,” he said.
It seems that people may vandalise out of boredom or as a way to fill their time.
“Once I saw a man talking on the phone and breaking leaves and branches from a tree planted in the street just as a way to pass time. This according to me was vandalism because, why destroy a tree for no rhyme or reason,” Mahnaaz Shaikh comments on the Gulf News official Facebook page.
— The writer is an intern with the Readers Desk at Gulf News.
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