‘Roing is not your dustbin’: Arunachal local confronts littering tourists from Assam, sparks civic sense debate online

The footage then cuts to the tourists collecting the trash. One of them asks, “Ab theek hai?” (Is it fine now?), to which the man responds with a smile, “Haan badhiya, badhiya. Yeh jagah aap logon ke liye bhi hai na” (Yes, very good. This place is for you too, right?) A text overlay on the video reads, “Littering tourists from Assam in Roing.”

In the caption, Mele expressed frustration over recurring littering issues, specifically pointing fingers at visitors from neighbouring Assam. “We welcome all guests with open hearts to enjoy our mountains, rivers, and clean spaces, but littering—No No,” he wrote. As a municipal official, he also announced plans for a campaign titled “Roing is not your Dustbin”, calling on local youth to unite and raise their voices against the problem.

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A post shared by Jimu Mele (@jimhikingnature)

The confrontation, now widely shared across social media, has reignited an online conversation about civic sense and responsible tourism. A user wrote, “Good lesson taught. I hope this reaches the maximum audience so that they learn basic civic sense.”

Another user wrote, “This is not about Assam or Arunachal it’s about caring for and nurturing nature. If someone is putting in effort to keep a place clean, respect that. Count the litter, not the boundaries.”

A third individual wrote, “Good work. I’ve been travelling around Arunachal and Meghalaya and I am really sick of people’s behaviour. Throwing plastics everywhere, even near temples and all, they just don’t respect the nature.”

A fourth person shared, “Recently, we went to Shergaon, and on the way, a large number of vehicles were parked beside the road and people were having mini picnics. The entire area was littered. I am sad to say that majority of the vehicles were from Assam. We will soon become the UP of Northeast if we carry on littering places like this.”