Nuapada: Unlike some cine stars, leaders and of their ilk who hold brooms only for shutterbugs and that too on special occasions, some youths of Nuapada district headquarters have been turning stinking dump yards into patches of greenery without demanding a pie.
Residents of this town are heaping praise on the group of volunteers who work under the umbrella of Swachhata Seva Sangha. Locals cite the premises of District Headquarters Hospital as an example of what the youths are doing. If the DHH premises are looking clean and green, it is only because of the youths’ efforts, residents say.
Till the other day, garbage was seen strewn around the hospital premises. Several social organisations had raised voice against this disgusting sight. On two occasions, the administration had undertaken clean-up efforts but hardly there was any improvement.
The then additional district medical officer Dr Jitendra Kumar Ray took an initiative and formed a group of local volunteers and launched the hospital cleaning campaign.
That humble initiative is bearing fruits now. The then volunteers are now active members of Swachhata Seva Sangha. They first created a garden by planting 120 kinds of trees. Though they were planted just a year ago, the trees are growing rapidly, turning the space once used as a dump yard into a salubrious green garden.
The recuperating patients can be seen admiring these ever growing trees. “Whenever we look at this garden, it helps decrease our depression,” says an in-patient.
Echoing his feeling, anther in-patient adds, “We forget our pain whenever we come out of our wards and come here to look at the garden.”
“There is not a single day when we find the members of Swachhata Seva Sangha not working in the garden. The members come to the garden daily, in turn. They spray water at these trees, de-weed the garden and turn the garden soil with the help of spades,” added some other in-patients.
“Apart from maintaining greenery at the hospital premises, one of our other activities is to cremate unclaimed bodies,” said some members including Hemant Kumar Joshi, Kabuli Bhatt, Dillip Sadhek, Shreenibas Nayak, Badkishore Deep and Basudev Meher.
“Whenever we see the garden, it gives immense pleasure. Similarly, performing last rites of an unclaimed body gives us a kind of satisfaction,” the youths said.
Whenever any member of the group comes across an open space or a space used as a dumping yard, he takes a mental note and the next day they clean the space and plant trees.
What’s heartening is, like the growth of the trees, the organization is also growing.
PNN