The Faculty of Science and Technology at Dehradun ICFAI University, in association with Ganga Ahawan Akhara, conducted “Ganga Cleaning and Awareness drive” at Pantdeep Ghat in Haridwar. The initiative was taken to educate the masses about the effects of pollution on the communities and the need to clean the river for maintaining the ecological balance of the river. Several toxic polluting agents were removed from the river during the cleaning process.
Dinesh Joshi, convener the drive, said that this was not just a cleaning and awareness drive, but rather an effort to motivate people for taking proactive initiatives at individual level for insuring a better future for the river and for the communities affected due to the contamination. Through their efforts, the volunteers shared their thoughts about the role of communities living nearby to ensure a better situation for tomorrow. Joshi further added that the drive is conducted every Wednesday and on this Wednesday, it completed its fourth round.
The volunteering team had over 100 students, faculty members and other staff members of ICFAI University, Dehradun. During the event, a camp was set up to inform the crowd about the project, its relevance and importance. The cleaning team was divided into groups of 5-6 volunteers who cleaned different parts of the ghat. During the process of cleaning, 35 students were walking around the streets of Haridwar with chart papers having different slogans to inform and attract the locals. This walk also informed the crowd about a quiz competition.
The quiz competition was based on the sacredness of Ganga, importance of cleaning and other related environmental/social awareness topics. Twenty informing volunteers conducted the competition. The students used banners, posters and slogans to highlight the importance of ganga cleaning. Vice-chancellor SC Deorani, registrar PK Dash, dean Faculty of Science and Technology RC Ramola, director Branding, ICFAI Group, Sudhakar Rao and many faculty from the Faculty of Science and Technology were also present.