By IANS
New Delhi : If the sight and smell of the Yamuna makes you cringe, how about trying to clean the river with your hands?
New Delhi-based NGO Swecha is undertaking a unique campaign, “We for Yamuna”, Friday in which people from various sections of the society will come together and clean the river to spread awareness about its deplorable condition.
“Yamuna shramdaan (voluntary labour) is one of our biggest annual events in which we try and spread awareness that Yamuna needs to be saved from being further polluted,” says Supriya Singh from the NGO.
“This time we are planning to give gloves and boots to all the people who volunteer, most of who will be students, and ask them to clean the waste and muck on the banks of the Yamuna,” Singh told IANS.
“This will make everyone realise how polluted the lifeline of the capital is and hopefully prevent them from further polluting the river.”
The event also includes artists who will make a collage from the waste that would be collected from the river.
“This will show that waste can be creatively re-used and recycled,” she said.
“The main aim of the shramdaan, besides mobilising people to work for this cause, is to attract the attention of all stakeholders, civil society, media and the government. We have invited many schools for the programme because it is in the youth that the future beholds.”
The river supports the water needs of nearly 60 million people. Delhi alone depends on it for 70 percent of its drinking water. But with an estimated 3.5 billion litres of waste going into the river every day, time is clearly running out for Yamuna.
“This event will mark the symbolic clean up of the Yamuna… We are not going to let the government simply talk about the issue and not do anything,” Singh said.