Sameera Ahmed | The News Minute| October 10, 2014| 09.37 pmThe simplest of campaigns, sometimes, turn out to be the most powerful ones. Like the straightforward, uncomplicated bucket challenge that raised billions of dollars across the world for research to fight the ALS disease, images of the most powerful man in the country holding a broom , cleaning up the corridors of New Delhi has triggered off the Swachh Bharat Clean India initiative with a bang. With Modi getting his hands dirty, and in a way sending out a strong message that it is everyone’s duty to ensure a clean, hygienic neighbourhood, the Rs. 62,000 crore pet project of the Prime Minister appears to look good patriotically and on camera. The campaign that partially focuses on urging its citizens to take up the broom, however does not focus on the more important and pertinent question of where the garbage goes once cleaned up. Many a time, garbage is just moved from one place to another, pushed to less densely-populated areas and then disposed off in dump yards under unhygienic and unfriendly environmental conditions.Cities have run out of places to dump their trash. For instance, empty lands in the new Yelankaha township in Bangalore have been turned into dumping grounds, according to a Hindu report. Even Chennai’s main dump yard located outside city limits does not have the necessary clearances from the Tamil Nadu State Pollution Control Board. With an estimated 5,000 tonnes of garbage dumped at Kodungaiyur and Perungudi every day, both of Chennai's dump yards have reached saturation point.Despite the Corporation proposing to close down the dump yards two years ago, garbage continues to be moved here. Even after complaints from nearby residents on smoke and health issues resulting from burning garbage at the nearby Kodungaiyur dumpyard, the final destination for Chennai’s garbage continues to function as it is. While the Swachh Bharat endevour aims to ensure better hygienic conditions within swanky city limits, the precarious location of such dump yards and methods of waste disposal for residents near such unhealthy locations is another question mark. In Kodungaiyur, the RR Nagar slum tenement residents overlooking the dump yard have no other choice but to live there, mostly due to economic reasons and lack of choice, said noted environmentalist Nithyanand Jayaramanin in a Kafila article.“Basically, the idea is that we have run out of place to dump the garbage.. the people are not welcoming it. No one wants garbage near them,†said Nithyanand Jayaraman who spoke to The News Minute on the issue. Just a few months back, in Bangalore which faces a huge garbage problem , alternative dump yard locations were picked within the city but not revealed to the public over fear of public reaction. The idea was to search for deserted land away from city residents. “It is not really solving the problem,†said Peter Van Geit, founder of the Chennai Trekking Club and initiator of environmental cleanups in Tamil Nadu on the viability of Swachh Bharat and what it aims to achieve. He also said that it would first have to aim at ensuring a sustainable neighborhood followed by reduction of garbage dumped before efficient disposal. Nithyanand Jayaraman said “The Swachh Bharat declaration is clearly ritualistic and totalistic. It is devoid of deeper purpose and meaning,†Saying that the campaign aimed more for ensuring better “aesthetics but not for a better environmentâ€, he said that the way forward for a better environment would be for the government to look into what and how much is consumed or generated by society as a whole. “But no government will be ready to do that,†he said. Swachh or no Swachh, India’s current cleanliness programme in-place only provides a superficial solution to the deeper problem of over-saturation in existing landfills in addition to the lack of alternative waste disposal strategies.