Clean cause: Residents clear lakefront of trash

HYDERABAD: Volunteers and residents living near the

Langar Houz

Lake participated in a clean-up drive on Saturday. Among the garbage collected, most of it was paper and plastic. The initiative was organised by the NGO Druvansh and sponsored by

Novartis

. This is the third lake to be cleaned up as part of the NGO’s efforts.


“We have been trying to get city residents to participate in cleaning up lakes. Every week we organise a drive from 8am to 10am,” said Madhulika Choudhary, who also said that volunteers went door-to-door spreading awareness about the need to go green among locals.

Among the participants was British deputy high commissioner in Hyderabad, Andrew Fleming and his wife.He said that he was inspired by the work at the lake and felt it was a ‘holistic campaign’ sure to have an impact. “Well-planned physical activities in unison with GHMC, followed by a sensitisation drive with local shopkeepers on non-plastic alternatives were a success,” he said.

Volunteer Soumya Kotra, a software engineer working at TCS, could be seen braving the summer heat and picking up garbage.

She said, “To raise awareness we approached local shopkeepers and distributed paper bags. We gave out questionnaires asking for information such as whether garbage pick-up trucks have been coming, and if not, why? This is both to gauge the ground situation as well as to create awareness.” Kotra feels that “no true change can take place without the local community being actively involved. We can clean up the mess at the surface level, but to go to the root of the problem, dumping must stop.”