Pune: The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) had organised Ram river cleaning activity in association with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) at Someshwarwadi. This cleaning activity was under the Swachhata Pakwada, which is as per the directions from Ministry of Earth Sciences and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
The river cleaning activity was done by the employees of IITM and was held on Saturday. Mayor Mukta Tilak and MLA Medha Kulkarni was also present.
Speaking on the occasion, Tilak said, “It becomes difficult when we keep throwing garbage and then again we have to clean it up. Rather we should be under the notion that garbage should neither be thrown at any public places nor in rivers, hills or in open places. Let’s make it a habit to throw garbage in the dustbins and also help Prime Minister Narendra Modi to complete his dream of Swachh Bharat.”
Swachhata Pakhwada was started in April 2016 by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the Swachh Bharat Mission - Gramin and the objective is to have an intense focus on the issues and practices of Swachhata by engaging Government of India Ministries/Departments in their jurisdictions. This year’s theme is Open defecation Free by 2019. The Swachhata Pakwada started from July 1 and will conclude on July 13.
A senior scientist at IITM Pune, Gufran Beig, said, “Under the Swachhata Pakhwada, various activities including cleaning, planting and awareness activities have been arranged, under which Ram river cleaning activity was amongst one. These activities are arranged every year as per the directions from the Ministry of Earth Sciences and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.”
Director of IITM Prof Ravi Nanjundiah said, “In this one-day cleaning activity of Ram river, our staff along with the PMC sanitation department employees had cleaned around 200 metres of Ramnadi. Almost one tempo of silt, three beams of grass and three bags of garbage including plastic, cloth and bottles were collected.”
