NEW DELHI: Every Sunday, for the past one and a half years, 50-year-old Manvendra Dev Manral picks up brooms and shovels at 8 AM and visits the Nigam Bodh Ghat to join like-minded citizens in cleaning garbage along the Yamuna bank at Kashmere Gate.
For Manral and his fellow Uttarkhandis working across Delhi-National Capital Region, the work to clear the litter lying at the ghat from 8 AM-12 PM on weekend is a ritual every week.
What started in June 2017 as an initiative of six to seven people, now involves scores of volunteers, ranging from doctors and government officials to private firm employees.
The Nigam Bodh Ghat is the city’s oldest cremation ground where over 50-60 pyres are lit every day. Flowers, clothes, plastic bags, ‘agarbatti’ (incense sticks) boxes are among the garbage that are dumped by the people who arrive for cremation.
“When we used to visit the ghat initially for cremations, there used to be a lot of talk and criticism about how dirty it is. This ghat is mostly visited for cremation by natives of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and West Bengal,” said Manral, originally from Almora in Uttarakhand and works in the sales department of a private firm in Rohini.
Instead of relying on the authorities, Manral and a few others took upon themselves to spruce up the ghat. Inspired by the Swachh Bharat Mission, they started with writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for approvals to take over the cleaning exercise, the permission for which they received later from local authorities.
The group, under the banner of ‘Uttaranchal Bhratri Sewa Sansthan’, kept getting bigger with more people joining in. Even though most of the people are into jobs and get only a Sunday as an off, the group says it make sure that volunteers don’t miss the cleaning drive.
“Today there are thousands of us involved in the exercise. Most of us only get one off-day in a week. Sometimes, a few can’t make it every Sunday, and then the others fill in,” said Manral.
In August, when a flooded Yamuna rose to its highest danger mark in five years and submerged and muddied the ghat, the group took the responsibility to clear the muck, and rubbish. “Now we have taken a resolution to convert it into a mini Haridwar. We have prepared a layout to conserve and beautify it. The people will be contributing money and the work will start in some time,” said Burari resident Jagat Singh, an employee of the east civic body.
For now, the volunteers have beautified the ghat with plants, put up boxes to donate clothes, and urged authorities to install proper street-lights. “I get a lot of peace of mind taking part in this service and seeing that so many people are working selflessly for the society,” said Manju Bhadola, a social worker.