Vrindavan cleaning drive rides on corporate support (With Images)
April 21st, 2011 - 3:56 pm ICT by IANSVrindavan (Uttar Pradesh), April 21 (IANS) Support is being mobilised to clean up the holy town of Vrindavan, which is living in perpetual fear of being deluged with garbage and sewer waste. The first step has been taken by Tata Motors, which has donated two garbage collection vans.
A local NGO is mobilising support through a My Clean Vrindavan programme to clean up the mess and present a better profile of the Lord Krishna land. Friends of Vrindavan has launched a programme to collect garbage from homes and process it into safe and useful manure.
“We have been recycling waste and making paper. We also have a unit for vermi compost making from domestic waste. The problem of cleanliness is really serious and with millions of devotees visiting the small town, the pressure is always too high to maintain standards,” Jagan Nath Poddar, director of Friends of Vrindavan, told IANS.
To support the programme, Tata Motors has donated two garbage collection vans.
While handing over the keys, Tata Motors Corporate Social Responsibility head G.S. Uppal said that it was a matter of pride to find an opportunity to serve the holy land of Lord Krishna.
“Four more garbage collection vans (mini-dumpers) will be given soon,” he added.
Amidst the rising concrete structures and plush ashrams of international gurus here, heaps of dirt, stray animals’ litter, callously scattered polythene and plastic bottles can be seen.
Friends of Vrindavan founder trustee Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami lamented: “Till the 1970s, Vrindavan was cited as a role model of cleanliness. But today, it’s a decadent and dirty town.”
“Why are our pilgrim centres so dirty and why no one bothers to clean up the mess,” wondered Jagan Gupta, a visiting NRI.
Neeraj Agrawal from the G.L.A. University urged the youngsters to keep the town clean and regenerate the past ecological beauty of the town.
Shri Bal Krishna Gautam, convener of the Braj-Vrindavan heritage alliance, said that until punishable measures are taken, the cleanliness of the town can’t be maintained.
A large number of organisations are cooperating in the cleanliness drive. These include UNDP-GEF Small Grants Programme, Sunanda Birla Foundation and GTZ-ASEM.
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Tags: agrawal, allian, ashrams, bal krishna, braj, concrete structures, corporate social responsibility, dirty town, dumpers, founder trustee, garbage collection, gautam, goswami, jagan, lord krishna, matter of pride, perpetual fear, stray animals, tata motors, uppal