KHAMMAM: Even during his leisure, 54-year-old Md Ghouse Pasha, who works as a conductor with the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), remains busy. Maintaining that social work is his hobby, Pasha plants trees and patches potholes in roads by spending money out of his pocket.
Ever since my childhood, I have been an environment lover and would always want to do something for the betterment of society,” Pasha tells TNIE. He says he was inspired by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Haritha Haram initiative. In the last 10 years, he has planted about 500 trees at Cheruvu Bazaar in Khammam.
“Fortunately, my family members have always been supportive and never opposed any initiative,” he adds. Many reports have shown the losses that the TSRTC has had to sustain over the years. To encourage people to use its services, Pasha goes around in his scooter with a board listing out the benefits of travelling and sending goods through buses, helping the government corporation enjoy free publicity.
During the pandemic, he created awareness about the need to ban single-use plastic.
His family members say that he has taken up at least 15 different initiatives over the course of years. “He can’t sit and relax at home even when he has no work. He doesn’t spend any time with family members as he is always busy coming up with something to help others,” they add.
For his green initiative, he was felicitated by Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Minister KT Rama Rao. Even, TSRTC officials gave him a cash reward for campaigning for the organisation. RTC officials and his colleagues have nothing but praise for him and say despite his numerous initiatives, he would never skip work.