Scores of students participated in a clean-up drive organised at Tapkeshwar temple by Doon’s student activist group Making a Difference by Being the Difference (MAD) on Sunday.
“Tapkeshwar indeed needed a very large cleanup campaign- both literally as well as from the awareness point of view- to change the pitiable situation of the Tamsa river which is the only freshwater stream remaining in Dehradun city,” said volunteer Himalaya Ramola. The MAD volunteers marched to the temple in the morning also to stage a token demonstration outside the office of the Cantonment Board, which despite repeated requests, was not taking a more pro-active role in saving the Tamsa, said the volunteers.
The volunteers cleaned the river near the temple, painted a wall and also conducted an awareness campaign to spread awareness on the condition of the Tamsa and need for environmental conciousness among the people visiting the shrine and dumping various items and trash in the river. The volunteers collected about 50 sacks of assorted garbage.