Residents show the way to keep city clean, green and free of drug abuse

AMRITSAR, AUGUST 29

While this would not be uncommon in many countries in the West, this certainly does make news in India where not many like to take the initiative to keep their surroundings clean and often blame the civic bodies for inaction. The residents of Amritsar have come together under the aegis of My Mother Most Beautiful, an NGO addressing social and environmental concerns, to show how to keep the city clean without depending on the government and the civic authorities. Also dealing with issues like drug addiction and unemployment, the NGO tries to generate its own funds for its activities and provide employment for the youth.

They generate funds by collecting and selling old newspapers purchased from the residents of various localities at market price besides offering tiffin service to office goers. Dr Sushil Gupta and his wife Kirti, who lead the NGO, said that in keeping with this effort, the NGO has adopted a couple of localities whose residents had volunteered to sell them their old newspapers every month.

“Instead of depending on financial help from the government, we want to be financially independent,” said Dr Gupta. He added that the funds thus raised were used for paying the 18 personnel whom the NGO had employed after salvaging them from the clutches of drugs and each of the youth was paid at least Rs 2000 per month besides being provided free medical aid.

“They have been employed for undertaking tasks as ridding the city of the obnoxious Congress Grass, removing trash, replacing stolen manhole covers, and taking down the plastic wires used for hanging banners from electricity poles,” he said. According to Dr Gupta the NGO removed a record 1800 kilograms of these plastic wires, which not only cause road accidents, but also create visual pollution.

He added that cleaning 100 such poles costs no less than Rs 10,000, but his group has cleaned more than 300 poles in the city. Dr Gupta further stated he was delivering lectures in various colleges to urge the public to come forward and raise their voice against the wrongs that were taking place in the city. “These days we are motivating the public to write as they can help us achieve a lot by lifting their pen instead of just sitting around quietly which will get us nowhere,” he said. EOM.