Deccan Chronicle’s initiative receives praise for providing a platform
The team members of First Step. Kiran Devi is missing from the photo, but she was also a part of the drive.
Hyderabad: City youngsters who wanted to spread a smile: An amateur group of students who call them selves “First Step”, wants to make a difference in the society. The group of eight students believe that when the source of a problem is the society then the solution also lies within the society. As part of the DC Clean Drive contest, First Step cleaned and painted the walls at Srinagar Colony road, behind Big Bazar, Ameerpet, on November 16.
Saiteja Tamarapalli, one of the members, said, “We came across the Big Bazar site and found that people were unable to walk by because of the stink . At any point of time, one could find men urinating on the walls. We took up the task of cleaning this site as it would help us enter the DC contest, and also help us spread a smile that would last longer than the contest.”
“Shopkeepers, security men of the adjacent apartments and passersby helped us with water and paints. People were quite responsible and didn’t litter the place once we cleaned it. We removed the bills on the walls, got rid of the unwanted stones and bricks and cleaned the degradable and non-degradable litter spread all around the area,” said Ambarish Atluri.
First Step has also spoken to the security men of adjacent apartments and shopkeepers to keep an eye on the site and to not allow anyone to litter there. “We kept pressurising the GHMC to clean the gathered garbage near the site.
We painted the walls white according to a psychological report which states that men find it difficult to urinate on a white wall. We have been checking the area, and so far, it hasn’t been littered,” said Mounika Vurity. The participants include Saiteja Tamarapalli, Kiran Devi, Janme Jai, Ambarish Atluri, Mounika Vurity, Pranad Gupta, Kethan Chitajalu and Ravi Kumar Singh.
315 students on a mission to clean:
The students and staff of Delhi School of Excellence, Manikonda, took out time from their academic schedule to do their part for society. From Class I to VIII, 315 students took part in the clean drive along with 32 staff members. They cleared the open garbage disposal site beside the Zilla Parishad School, next to the bus stand on the Manikonda main road.
S. Hemalatha, the principal of the Delhi School of Excellence, Manikonda, said, “As is being rightly pointed out, we have to take matters in to our hands. Students and staff have given this sentiment the seriousness it deserves. The plan of action included cleaning the garbage, which had everything ranging from rotting bio-degradable wastes, diapers, animal excrement and non-biodegradable wastes.”
Students and staff collected the garbage in 20 big garbage bags. “The municipal van, which rarely makes its regular rounds, was hounded till it took away the garbage. This was followed by the school children donating saplings to people and educating the residents, shopkeepers and the people about keeping their surroundings clean. We are trying to see that each day, a modicum of cleanliness is maintained near the site though we are facing many impediments. But, as Robert Frost said, we have miles to go! “We would like to congratulate Deccan Chronicle and its team for launching the ‘Clean Drive’ campaign,” said the participants.
Tourist spot transformed:
Drawing inspiration from the DC Clean Drive Contest to keep one’s own city clean, a team of 12 people comprising businessmen, doctors, politicians, students and homemakers, led by team leader and businessman Siddarth Maturi was looking at ways to spruce up Rajahmundry. That is when the team members noticed an abandoned building with its compound walls full of indecent film posters and slushy ground making it an ideal place for mosquitoes to breed.
Since the area was in division no. 22 and on the banks of the Godavari, where a large number of tourists come to enjoy the scenery and go on boat rides, they decided to clean up the area.
They contributed Rs 8,500 among themselves and purchased brooms, brushes and paints. Team leader Mr Maturi said, “We started the drive at about 7 am and completed it by 10.15 am. We removed all posters and cleaned the compound wall with scrubbers and gave it a fresh coat of paint.
We also cleaned the elevated basement of the electric transformer and painted it. We removed garbage from the ground and asked the civic authorities to remove the dumper and close the unused tap as leaking water was making the ground slushy. We also placed sand on the ground to make it look clean.”
“We should think about what we can do for society, instead of blaming someone for poor maintenance. We are continuing the clean drive in other areas too,” he added.
The team included Siddarth Maturi, Mandavalli Haranath, Namana Srikanth, Ramineedu Seshu Kiran, Maturi Sowmya, Maddi Narayana Rao, Vishnu, Nalam Sivarama Krishna, Gokula Murali, Lakshmi Narayana, T. Raja and Ratna Sri.
Social service is passion for these youngsters:
Social service is a passion for members of the Nellore-based youth organisation Nestham Foundation. The 50-odd members of the organisation had taken an active role in painting portraits of heroes of the nation, such as freedom fighters and popular historical figures, on the walls of Ramalingapuram railway under-bridge in Nellore as part of the DC Clean Drive.
The walls used to be dotted with obscene film posters before the Nestham activists transformed them with paintings of Mahatma Gandhi, Vivekananda, poet Tikkana, Mother Teresa, Ambedkar, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bhagat Singh, Sri Krishna Devaraya, Abdul Kalam, Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
Nestham was formed by two brothers Korem Praveen Kumar and Venkateswar Rao and their friends Gali Siva, Mannepalli Vikram Kumar, Racharla Venkata Leela Kumar, Nagendra and Bandla Madhu. All of them are from Nellore and work in different fields.
Mannepalli Vikram Kumar, an assistant professor in Vikrama Simhapuri University, said that they had spent nearly Rs 3 lakh to transform the walls of the Ramalingapuram underbridge and nearly Rs 1.20 lakh was contributed by individuals, whose names were mentioned under the paintings. The members also thanked DC for recognising their work and for selecting them for the prize under the DC Clean Drive programme.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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