On a cleanliness drive
10 Sept 2014 4:03 AM IST
Without waiting for negligent municipal corporations to act, several do-it-yourself groups have taken it upon themselves to clean up the national capital — and even recharge water bodies — with active participation from its civic-minded citizens.
Collecting garbage, removing posters from walls and even building urinals, groups like Basic Shit, Delhi Rising and Let’s Do It Delhi are doing it all to ensure a clean and stench-free Delhi.
‘There are many spots in the city where you are forced to cover your nose because of the stinking smell of urine. We are focusing on such places and building cheap urinals there,’ Ashwani Aggarwal of Basic Shit said.
Formed in December 2013, the group has so far set up two urinals in Delhi near the AIIMS Metro station and Hauz Khas with the help of funds collected from residents and shopkeepers.
‘If people can’t stop urinating in public we can only build more toilets,’ said Aggarwal, an arts graduate who builds the cost-effective urinals using funnels or plastic cans attached to pipes which are connected to a nearby sewer.
According to Aggarwal, the group soon plans to build 20 more urinals around the city. Other groups like Delhi Rising, which regularly carries out cleaning drives, ask people to report a particular spot that has been neglected by the municipality.
‘People have to give their personal details as well as the spot’s location on our community page on Facebook and we then organise a spot fix. They have to join as a volunteer and if possible bring as many people as they can,’ said a member of the group that operates across the national capital.
‘At the same time we create an event on our homepage so that people from anywhere in the city can join.’ In fact, it’s the ever increasing number of volunteers that are fuelling these groups, said Anita Bhargava of Let’s Do It! Delhi, which earlier used to carry out sanitation drives but now focuses on bringing about systematic changes to better address the issue of maintaining cleanliness, again across the capital wherever required.
‘I feel it is more important to make sure that once a place is clean, it stays that way and for that we
need the residents of the city to step in,’ Bhargava said.
‘After selecting a particular area, we talk to the civic agency concerned and set a deadline for completing the work,’ she added.
A group of senior citizens are dedicatedly working towards solving Dwarka’s water woes by planning to revive around 40 water bodies by October 2015. Started by a handful of morning walkers in 2010 with an aim to beautify the DDA parks in the locality, the ‘Sukh Dukh Ke Sathi Sanstha’ gradually decided to solve Dwarka’s water crisis and today boasts of some 200 members.
Collecting garbage, removing posters from walls and even building urinals, groups like Basic Shit, Delhi Rising and Let’s Do It Delhi are doing it all to ensure a clean and stench-free Delhi.
‘There are many spots in the city where you are forced to cover your nose because of the stinking smell of urine. We are focusing on such places and building cheap urinals there,’ Ashwani Aggarwal of Basic Shit said.
Formed in December 2013, the group has so far set up two urinals in Delhi near the AIIMS Metro station and Hauz Khas with the help of funds collected from residents and shopkeepers.
‘If people can’t stop urinating in public we can only build more toilets,’ said Aggarwal, an arts graduate who builds the cost-effective urinals using funnels or plastic cans attached to pipes which are connected to a nearby sewer.
According to Aggarwal, the group soon plans to build 20 more urinals around the city. Other groups like Delhi Rising, which regularly carries out cleaning drives, ask people to report a particular spot that has been neglected by the municipality.
‘People have to give their personal details as well as the spot’s location on our community page on Facebook and we then organise a spot fix. They have to join as a volunteer and if possible bring as many people as they can,’ said a member of the group that operates across the national capital.
‘At the same time we create an event on our homepage so that people from anywhere in the city can join.’ In fact, it’s the ever increasing number of volunteers that are fuelling these groups, said Anita Bhargava of Let’s Do It! Delhi, which earlier used to carry out sanitation drives but now focuses on bringing about systematic changes to better address the issue of maintaining cleanliness, again across the capital wherever required.
‘I feel it is more important to make sure that once a place is clean, it stays that way and for that we
need the residents of the city to step in,’ Bhargava said.
‘After selecting a particular area, we talk to the civic agency concerned and set a deadline for completing the work,’ she added.
A group of senior citizens are dedicatedly working towards solving Dwarka’s water woes by planning to revive around 40 water bodies by October 2015. Started by a handful of morning walkers in 2010 with an aim to beautify the DDA parks in the locality, the ‘Sukh Dukh Ke Sathi Sanstha’ gradually decided to solve Dwarka’s water crisis and today boasts of some 200 members.
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