.jpg)
The ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ campaign has been launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India under its flagship Swachh Bharat Mission. The Ministry has called upon the entire national community to devote at least one hour from 10am to 11am on 1st October, 2023 (“Ek Tareekh, Ek Ghanta”) towards cleaning the locality in order to have a ‘Clean India, Green India’.
To further this vision, the Jean Monnet Chair of EU Climate Justice Law, Governance, Management & Police (EUC-LAMP) held by Prof. (Dr.) Shashikala Gurpur, Director and Dean SIU, the Climate Change Policy and Law (CCP-Law) Centre, in collaboration with the various cells of SLS-P (Student Advisory Board, Rotaract Club, Animal Liberation Cell and ECOCON Cell), organised the Swachhata hi Seva Campaign starting at Symbiosis Law School, Pune (SLS-P) on 1st October, 2023 from 10am to 11am. The cleanliness drive also saw the efforts of the volunteers of Symbiosis School of Liberal Arts and Symbiosis School of International Studies along with the Symbiosis Centre for Waste Resource Management (SCWRM), Symbiosis International (Deemed University) (SIU), under the guidance of Dr. Manikprabhu Dhanorkar, Head, SCWRM.
The cleanliness drive began with the volunteers having a photography session with Adar Poonawala Clean City Initiative (APCCI) employees and SLSP & SCWRM staff. Colourful posters were unfurled, and slogans such as ‘Swachh Bharat’ and ‘Swachhata hi Seva’ were raised. Volunteers were divided into teams to cover various areas around the SLSP Campus. One team cleaned the roads till Shubh Gateway, another till Aero Mall and the third team till Konark, Lunkad and Daffodil campuses. Around 100 participants involved in the cleanliness drive covered the area of approximately 3 kms. The volunteers, including faculty, were provided with protective equipment including gloves, masks, brooms and garbage bags to collect wastes in their designated areas.
The campaign saw enthusiastic participation from the volunteers who collected and separated the wastes into bio degradable and non-biodegradable wastes. Weeds and plastic wastes along the roads were cleared out.
Seeing the zealous participation of the SLSP students, the street vendors also got motivated to contribute in the initiative. The volunteers even had talks with street vendors regarding their concerns, and spread awareness on various methods to keep their surroundings neat and clean.
The collected wastes were disposed using the Glutton Electric Waste disposal machine provided by APCCI. This campaign made the community more sensitive towards their surroundings and aware of the various hardships faced by safai karamcharis. The Government’s initiative was the right step forward towards building a cleaner and greener nation.
