The Art of Littering

Yamuna floodplain, which hosted the controversial World Culture Festival (WFC) on last weekend, looks no less than a dustbin, thanks to the slow pace of cleanliness drive initiated by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living (AOL) Foundation.

Even after three days from closure of the event, heaps of garbage, plastic bottles, empty packets of eatables, polythene sheets, and other bits of trash are lying unattended at the site. A visit of the site reveals that garbage has been hidden in order to keep it away from eyes but a close look shows dozens of pile-ups in various nooks and corners of the venue where the WCF took place. On Wednesday, Sri Sri also inspected the on-going cleanliness drive at the venue.

Though a large number of volunteers were nowhere to be seen, around 20-30 people along with the cleaning agency’s men were seen collecting the trash left in the site. The sanitation workers denied getting help from a large number of volunteers as it is being claimed. Garbage, empty water bottles and food containers are still lying on the carpets. A host of Sri Sri University pamphlets, matrimonial pamphlets are lying carelessly with thin number of volunteers monitoring the site. Among other things, the stage is likely to take the longest to be dismantled. Besides the designated team of workers, a host of child ragpickers were seen collecting garbage from the site.

Despite the tall claims of the AoL Foundation of restoring bio-diversity of the floodplain, no initiative was reflected. 

The AoL, days before the event, had claimed to lift every bit of garbage by starting massive cleanliness drive after the event but no such move was reflected at the site. 

An hours-long visit by Millennium Post found that in order to avoid criticism, dumping of garbage has taken places at locations which are away from the main stage. “Common places, where people can spot garbage easily have been avoided and dumping has been made at locations which people fail to detect. Earlier, it was said that volunteers will work round-the-clock but hardly any volunteer was spotted once the event was over,” said Hariom, a farmer living in the area.

The farmers across the Yamuna floodplain, through whose fields temporary tracks and roads were cut for the fest, have also complained that garbage was removed only from some places against the claims of AoL. The garbage in the fields, especially those already cultivated, had created problems for the farmers. “There is garbage everywhere, it’s in the fields and on the roadside they temporarily paved by acquiring agricultural land,” said Dayaram, another farmer at the village.

“Sometimes, people from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi come and collect a pile of garbage but that’s too little in comparison to the filth spread around,” he said.

The AoL spokesperson, however, said that the cleanliness operations will take about one month. “Sri Sri reached Yamuna banks and inspected the on-going cleaning operations at the venue. He also instructed the teams on further course of action for the next one month,” said an AoL statement.