Dehradun-based student activist group, Making A Difference by Being The Difference ( MAD ) celebrated Dussehra by cleaning up the litter strewn on the Parade Ground on Sunday as a part of their cleanup activities programme. The cleanup drive came a day after the annual Dussehra celebrations held on the Parade Ground, as part of which the effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnad are burnt down and a simultaneous mela ( fair ) takes place to entertain local residents and spectators who come from outside the town.
Pointing out that Ravana still exists in our society in the form of lack of civic sense and clutter, MAD members were early to get up the Sunday following Dussehra and headed straight for the ground with their gloves, masks and borrowed brooms. They said that the sight of parade ground was intimidating. Even though the team is used to cleaning dirty and filthy dumps where community wastes are also put in, this cleanup drive was going to be different because the area in which the litter was spread was all over the ground. Even though the waste was not as filthy as it becomes with household waste, it was equally repulsive and much more spread out.
That is why even as members toiled for hours and hours at a stretch, they were not able to completely clean up the ground. However, significant portions of the same were completely cleaned up.
Members collected heaps of polythene, plastic, wrappers of chocolates, snacks, used remaining leftovers of junk food from multinational outlets, while at the same time some biodegradable waste such as food and fruit remains. There were certain areas of the parade ground where there were openly dumped heaps of used thermocol plates which showed that the ground has been used for such open dumping as well. While most members out of the two dozen members were involved in literally cleaning up the ground, there was a special team deputed for an awareness campaign in and around the parade ground among the local people. Some of the members present there were founding president Abhijay Negi, Vivek, Saurabh, Simran, Rititka, Pallavi, Akshat and Adarsh among others.