Guwahati: A massive cleanliness drive was carried out on the banks of Brahmaputra in Uzanbazar area, Guwahati. The drive was by the youth of Guwahati under the banner of “The Midway Journey”. It is an initiative to spread awareness and take grassroots action in the field of plastic pollution and waste management.
The team started the cleanliness drive on 1st January 2019 and they worked consistently every Sunday till the month of April. The waste collected was segregated and materials were sent for recycling. In 2019, despite their continuous efforts, the team couldn’t keep the area clean due to lack of connection with the local people of the area.
The team has come up with new ideas this year to connect with the local people. The group of volunteers are planning to clean the Brahmaputra riverbank every Sunday and also work with the (GMC)Guwahati Municipal Corporation to segregate household waste through a 5-month project.
This year, the organisation has planned to educate the entire community to reduce and recycle household waste and also set up drop off centers for dry waste at different locations of Uzanbazar.
On 1st January, GMC Commissioner, Debeswar Malakar and Ruby Das from PWD were present in the inauguration event including representatives from various other organisations like Learning Space, Ashadeep NGO, Binbag, etc.
The team has formed a research group to understand the issues of waste management and have made a pit in the bank to compost the collected wet waste. The research group will also spread awareness about waste segregation among all domestic as well as commercial units of Uzanbazar and finally set up community drop off centers to collect dry waste every week.
More than 40 local citizens cleaned a part of the Brahmaputra riverbank and then segregated the collected waste. Also, they are collecting clean, dry waste from the locality and planning to monetize the waste that will encourage households to segregate their domestic waste.
“The initiative was started by the NGO, “The Midway Journey” in 2019. On the first day of 2020, we tried to do something good for the society, so we came up with this 6 months cleanup drive which will take place every Sunday. Our aim is to keep Guwahati clean,” said Arup Jyoti Rabha, an actor, and director by profession.
“People lack civic sense and are to be blamed for the dirty surroundings. Usually, people blame the government. We should come forward for cleaning up our own surroundings. The Brahmaputra is a resource for the people of Assam and it is our duty to keep it clean. So, we have started this cleanup drive by including various NGOs, organisations and local people,” he added.
