When officials take Swachata Abhiyan in real sense
Udupi, March 21, 2021: Many commuters on Agumbe Ghat found a group of people, some wearing shorts, some wearing Mundu, clearing the garbage on the roadside.
They were filling the gunny bags with bottles, plastic bags, and other non-degradable garbage that were thrown by people on both sides of the roads.
While some thought they were volunteers, some just saw these people and continued their journey. What they did not notice what that the people cleaning the garbage were none other than Additional DC (ADC) of Udupi Sadashiva Prabhu, Kundapura Assistant Commissioner (AC) Raju, and other senior officials!
After staying at the government school as part of the ‘Grama Vastavya,’ at Kabbinale village of Hebri on Saturday night, the team of officials comprising Sadashiva Prabhu, Kundapur AC Raju, Agriculture Joint Director Kempe Gowda, Deputy Director Chandrashekhar Nayak, Land Records Deputy Director Ravindra, Tahsildar Purandar Hegde decided to go on a small drive towards Agumbe Ghat on Sunday morning.
They were driving in the Ghat section when they found garbage thrown on both sides of the roads.
Usually, the officials would call the local administration and ask them to clear the debris, Sadashiva Prabhu and the team decided to do their bit. While people, especially after a hectic day out, prefer to relax on Weekends, these officials decided to clear the garbage as much as they could.
They got down from their vehicle and started cleaning near the 14th curve. In just 200 mtrs they collected more than five bags of garbage!
The garbage thrown on the roadside creates a problem, especially for wild animals. The monkeys and other animals end up eating plastic bags while trying to eat the leftover foods in them. The bottles injure the wild animals traversing on this route.
Also read: Udupi Additional DC cracks the whip on litterbug
Despite repeated requests and warnings, travelers continue to throw garbage on the roadside.
“Throwing garbage like this not only creates problem for ecologically sensitive Western Ghats but also affects the wild animals. People should be more sensible and refrain from such acts of dumping garbage on the roadside,” Sadashiva Prabhu said.
Also read: Former Uttara Kannada DC Dr Harish Kumar to lead Karnataka COVID management task force
While many people organize programs to observe ‘World Forest Day,’ on March 21, Sadashiva Prabhu and his team celebrated this in a true sense by cleaning the garbage in the forest.
