GHMC move to stop littering gets leg-up

Hyderabad: Cleanliness is next to godliness. All of us have heard this phrase many times. But do we follow this? A lot of people don't even think we should keep our surroundings clean.

Taking up the responsibility on her own shoulders, someone who is not content with just carrying out her job, a city resident Naniwadekar Medha, an architect-turned Swachh Bharat activist, has decided to make a tangible difference in her locality and started 'Fenko Matt' an initiative to sensitise people to stop littering. She and like-minded people visit various marketplaces and even go door-to-door, driving home the message.

Speaking to Hans India on Sunday, Medha explained about 'Fenko Matt' initiative thus: "Under this campaign a few of us decided that starting this drive from a marketplace will be a good thing. So, we choose Lal Bazar as it is a compact market with small shops and well-laid pattern. We continued the drive there for one month and it yielded considerable results, which boosted our confidence."

She added further: "During the anti-littering drive, we ensure that all garbage and waste material is cleaned up by the shopkeeper who has caused it, and sensitise them about the ill-effects of discarding improperly. We also tell them to stop others from dumping trash so that it becomes an ingrained habit. Our civic authorities alone can't keep the city clean, and it's us citizens who have to be involved in making the surroundings neat and green and help our civic authorities. We as citizens should do our job of segregating the garbage properly and rest of the work can be handled by the civic authorities."

Helped by like-minded individuals like Vijaya Naidu, Leela Sishta, along with a few regular volunteers, the team has so far covered areas such as Neredmet, Sainkipuri, Kapra, Lal Bazaar, and Panjagutta. Also through this initiative, the team has carried out more awareness programmes at temples, tourist places, commercial areas which are the common places, where people tend to litter more.