Waste Warriors clean Parade Ground, slum
Tribune News Service
Dehradun, October 1
Volunteers of Waste Warriors, a local NGO, cleaned Parade Ground opposite the Doon Club and a slum area next to Gandhi Park here today.
Twenty students from Hilton School joined the drive with Waste Warriors volunteers, including Vishal Verma, Meenakshi Rawat, Ram Kewal, Manauwar, Anamika and Reyaana. Parade Ground, which has become an eyesore due to lack of maintenance, was filled with litter, mostly plastic and packaging waste.
However, no one from The Doon Club and the BJP office participated in the event.
The Waste Warriors had originally planned to host a composting workshop in Gandhi Park. However, when the team was walking through the Parade Ground to get to Gandhi Park, they decided to encourage slum dwellers to clean their area. The children were first to accept litter grabbers and gloves and agreed to help Waste Warriors collect the garbage strewn in and around their camp.
Several adults also joined in and large piles of garbage were collected to be lifted by a Waste Warriors truck. The children understood the importance of having a clean environment.
The volunteers who assisted during the afternoon clean-up were Gurmeet Singh, Narendra, Mr Singh from the NGO Pramukh and Pradyumna who assisted Waste Warriors volunteer Martin Robertson from the UK and Waste Warriors staff members Jodie Underhill, Shraddha Zende, Divya, Manpreet and Ankita Kumar-Ratta.
The members of the Waste Warriors team appealed to the people living in the area to keep their waste in one area, adding that, if they did this, Waste Warriors would be willing to come and collect it.
Ankita Kumar-Ratta, Education Manager at Waste Warriors, said, “The children were quick to understand that their area should be a clean space. While many of the adults sat, watching, it was the children who truly took action, and engaged with our team, in full agreement that the area where they are living in should not be treated like a garbage dump.”
The slum area was strewn with garbage and dirty discarded clothes and the team found it especially concerning that young children were being subjected to unsanitary conditions on a daily basis.
The Waste Warriors team will host educational children’s days to raise awareness and teach them about the importance of not littering, good hygiene and living in a clean environment through games and play.
At the end of the exercise, the team collected a total of 505 kg of non-recyclable waste and 28 kg of recyclable waste.
