New Delhi, Dec 5 (IANS) Clad in yellow body suits and masks and armed with spades, thousands of students, executives and even government officials Saturday descended onto the banks of river Yamuna here and managed to remove truckloads of muck in a small start to the massive exercise required to clean up the clinically dead river.
The effort started at around 9 a.m. and went on till about 1 p.m. at Kudsia ghat near ITO in the heart of the national capital.

“We have managed to mobilise a lot of people today. In all about 3,000 people were here and six to seven truck loads of filth and muck was taken out of the riverbed along a 200 metre stretch,” environmentalist Vimlendu Jha told IANS.

The programme was organised by Jha’s NGO Swecha in association with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), UN volunteers as well as the state environment department and India Council for Cultural Relations to mark the the International Volunteer Day (observed Dec 5).

Enthusiastic students from 17 schools left no stone unturned and scooped out piles of filth. Celebrity faces like designer Rina Dhaka and several corporate honchos including UN senior officials, executives of the Genpact and Toyota, folded up their sleeves and pitched in.

Jha said that the aim of the programme was “symbolic”.

“We know that only volunteers can’t clean up Yamuna. The idea was to show people how dead the river is. Today was the first time many of these people who went on boats saw the actual dirty river. Many were shocked to see shampoo bottles and other stuff floating in it,” Jha said.

Environment activists like Jha believe that there needs to be proper action taken on local ground before one can talk on climate change issues at an international summit at Copenhagen starting Monday.

“There have been several commitments from the government. In fact the Delhi government under Shiela Dikshit has been around for over 15 years. Crores are spent but the river is in the same state. In the context of the COP-15 climate summit authorities here need to look at local environment and prioritise smaller issues and action,” Jha said.

Next to the river which resembled a large drain, bands like Indian Ocean, Menwhopause and Terra Naomi put up a performance.

“It would be so nice to enjoy the music at the riverbed when it is clean,” said a volunteer.