Every year on 22 March (The World water Day), at the banks of the Yamuna River at sacred town of Gokul we organize waste pick-up activity and stakeholder sensitization program very successfully.
This particular Bank is of great significance for Indians religiously, but ironically river Yamuna is one of the most polluted rivers of country. Gokul, because of its association with lord Krishna is an important pilgrimage center located on the banks of this river. As we are organizing the world water day programe every year, so a good number of locals are now actively involved in this conservation effort.
Every year students from secondary school and volunteers from different walks of life participate in this event. Studentsare given briefing about the concept of water-quality and the importance of water-quality in day to day life. Most of the locals take interest in this and are enthusiastic to learn more in this field.
Our Volunteers collect polythene bags, empty bottles and non-biodegradable waste accumulated close to the river banks. We have involved the local municipality and they dispose the entire collected waste in Garbage begs specially brought for this purpose. We specially invite people from diverse professional backgrounds to get their views and involve them in post cleanup activities. Some of them were very keen to have a permanent clean-up plans for few more banks of the sameriver. On this occasion,pilgrims visiting this town also join the event and are made aware of the issue of river pollution and some of them also join in clean up.
Our team in collaboration with the Rivers of the world foundation (ROW) works in this area.The focus of event is to clean up the non-biodegradable trash and teach students and importance of water quality for a healthy life. Some of the youths are now well aware of the issue of contamination of the ground water due to river pollution and its possible consequences. All the stakeholders nearby villages, schoolteachers and youths from different walks of life now want to come up together and work on the Yamuna conservation issue on a permanent basis, we are discussing the matter with other NGOs , govt officials and local bodies to find a permanent solution to the problem.
We have placed dustbins on the shoreline of the river and check and maintain them regularly.The trash mostly contains polythene bags, disposable glasses, bottles and things used in religious rituals and few pieces of old clothes and garlands. We are planning to organize this event on a larger scale in coming years and thank Dr Dutta and his ROWF in USA for their constant guidance and encouragement.
