The March of the CLEAN Brigade!

Namita Dogra & Riti Kushwaha             cleanindia@devalt.org

CLEAN-Nagpur 

CLEAN-Nagpur has launched a campaign against the tiling of pavements. When pavements are tiled, trees get suffocated since the roots don’t get air and water. The result is trees grow distorted. CLEAN-Nagpur makes a samadhi (grave) around the tree to let people know that the tree is going to die after some time. They took the initiative, talked to the government and now new tiling takes place only after appropriate space is left around the trees. This has been a case of awareness and quick action. 

CLEAN-Amreli 

CLEAN – Amreli generated awareness about the harmful effects of using synthetic Holi colours and suggested a viable alternative. A campaign was launched with the help of school children. The students of Lilavanti Girls High School actively participated in the campaign. CLEAN-Amreli students taught them the preparation of natural Holi colour. The campaign was a success and it made people of Amereli aware that Holi can be played with safe colours.    

CLEAN- Aurangabad 

Manav Park is an innovative concept of CLEAN-Aurangabad. As the name specifies, an outline of the  human body is drawn on the ground and different herbs are planted in specific places, conveying the idea that this herb is good for this part of the body.  It’s a novel  venture and gets across the message very easily.It is no wonder, many other centres are adopting the method. 

CLEAN-Udaipur  

CLEAN-Udaipur initiated the developing of herbal gardens in its partner schools. The main objective was to take up action for preserving and propagating the herbal wealth of Udaipur which has been ignored the last two decades in the name of development. The plantation was taken up in seven CLEAN-Udaipur partner schools.

The students’ families are willing to develop herb corners in their houses. They are planning to bring out a booklet on the medicinal plants that are available in Udaipur, detailing their several uses. There is a continuous association with the Department of Forest in order the activity may carry on successfully during the subsequent seasons. 

CLEAN-Sagar  

As a result of increased withdrawal of ground water in Sagar, (M.P.) the water table in the city has gone down from 70-80 feet to 200-300 feet in a matter of 15 years. CLEAN- Sagar is currently involved in spreading awareness in the communities of Sagar and Damoh on the significance of rain water harvesting as a solution to the problem. Feasible designs for water harvesting at the household level have been selected for roof top harvesting. The rainwater from the rooftop is conveyed to a pipe that has an inbuilt filter. The roof water gets filtered and is then directed to ground water through boring. CLEAN-Sagar has implemented 50 rooftop water harvesting structures in the city.  

CLEAN-Kurnool 

When one considers the problem of fluoride in groundwater, Andhra Pradesh is one of the worst hit states. Our CLEAN- Kurnool students monitored the water quality of their area and made people aware of the increased levels of flouride in the ground water. CLEAN-Kurnool approched the Andhra Pradesh Govternment and ten deflouridation filters were given to individuals or households of the Rudravaram village. The AP Governmnet decided to give a subsidy to people below the poverty line and CLEAN-Kurnool contributed the share of the household. The Rural Water Supply Department also supplied 70 filters to households in the village as part of this initiative.  This is a small initiative taken by  CLEAN-Kurnool along with RWS Govt. of AP; the initative has undoubtedly benefited the people.   

CLEAN-Pudukottai

CLEAN-Pudukottai is creating herbal gardens in homes and colonies. Large numbers of local medicinal plants are planted in these gardens. People in these colonies are made aware on the use of these medicinal plants and taught to make preparations that will act as medicine for several ailments. 

CLEAN-Kodaikanal 

City farming is one way of reducing waste at individual level, where the kitchen biodegradable waste can be used for growing vegetables, fruits, flowering plants and so on. CLEAN- Kodaikanal students went around informing the community how one can carry out city farming in their garden, rooftop or in any area with minimum space. As a result of people taking to this kind of farming the disposal of organic waste has been greatly reduced, slowly progressing towards zero level.. CLEAN-Kodaikanal students have successfully initiated city farming in about 50 households. 

CLEAN - Jhansi

Every developing city faces the problem of solid waste management. CLEAN- Jhansi has started  a demonstration model for solid waste management in Bhani Devi Goyal School. Slowly other places started taking to the model, like the District Jail, the Chandra  Vihar colony and a few other schools. Alongside people  were made aware of the harmful effect of polythene and proper waste management practices. Cleanliness drives were organised by CLEAN-Jhansi students and meetings were held with the government and stakeholders towards the same end. The result is that, apart from the model getting replicated in Jhansi, the district administration has agreed to work with CLEAN-Jhansi to make the entire city Clean q

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