Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Tuesday urged the citizens of the national capital to take pride in their city and start owning the river Yamuna, our gardens, streets and neighbourhoods.
Making this assertion here at the 15th convocation of the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, he said “we will have to start feeling responsible towards our city and proactively work towards achieving the goals of Delhi’s environmental sustainability, rejuvenation of the Yamuna, management of civic issues and judicious utilization of our resources.
Saxena said Delhi as “ they say is the melting pot of India. With people from all over the country residing and working in the city, Delhi is indeed a mini-India. This indeed is a matter of pride for the city. However, the flipside of this pride of embodying India is that our sense of belongingness and ownership to and for Delhi has diminished over the years.
While you will often see people from other States holding on to and feeling proud of belonging to that State, the same is missing in Delhi to a very large extent. We will have to start belonging to Delhi and owning.” The government will be able to fulfil its responsibility of disposing garbage, restoring natural resources, mitigating encroachments and providing better services, only if the people of Delhi stand up to the task of managing and taking care of Delhi, in the same way “as we manage and take care of our homes,” he said.
“I would, as I said earlier entrust you with the responsibility today to inculcate Delhi in your hearts as a city that you belong to and that you own. Let us begin with this campaign,” Saxena said.
Addressing the students, he said “today is a Red Letter Day for you. As you pass out from this prestigious University, with a degree of repute, I would like to underline for you the importance of humility and the need to be grounded in all circumstances. Your degree will enable you to move ahead in life and make successful careers.”