Members from Palampur Bikers Club organized the clean-up drive on 2nd Oct. The event was scheduled for 3 hrs on 2nd Oct.A couple of our members reached directly from Delhi to take part in event after driving all night for 19 hrs(Car trouble). The commitment and dedication of these guys to the clean-up drive must be appreciated.

The initial plan was that we will conduct the clean-up drive around Kandi Bridge (Saurav Van Vihar). We were surprised to see the amount of wafer packets , plastic cups ,bottles and cans around this road.We immediately realized that this clean-up could not be achieved in 3 hrs and would need more time. After 3 hrs of clean-up drive we collected around 12 bags of Garbage. Although we collected quite a large amount of plastic garbage but there was a lot more. One of our member made a commitment to come daily for next 3 days on morning walk in the same area and continue the clean-up drive. Few other members also pitched in this morning walk cum clean-up drive. There were couple of other people who were there on the morning walk who also joined us in the clean-up.

All Palampur Bikers Club members again did the clean-up drive on 4th evening and were joined by few more young and responsible guys who were in the area. We would like to THANK each one of you and hope we can spread this clean-up drive. In all , Palampur Bikers Club members collected 30 + bags full of garbage in 3 days. Though we are happy that we could clean-up the area in the limited time and
resources which we had but at the same time there is lot of work still left to be done in this regard. Palampur Bikers Club is
committed to this drive and will facilitate more such events at regular intervals.

Our prime minister Modiji also launched the Swach Bharat campaign on the same day. This is a great initiative and we fully support
this.However , what we need is consistency and some basic infrastructure to support the Swatch Bharat mission.

Challenges we faced during the clean-up drive:

1>Dust Bins : Huge scarcity of dust-bins to dispose the garbage. We collected around 30 bags full of garbage and had to transport them by car for 7 kms to find the nearest dust bin. In absence of Dust bins , people do not have an option but to throw it in nearby nallas thereby creating water pollution.

2>Awareness: Little awareness in local people is a huge drawback in curbing this issue. We can clean-up the area but this bound to get dirty again unless general people are aware.

3>Plastic Ban: Although Plastic is banned in Himachal since long and it’s a very good initiative but what about wafer packets and disposable cups and glasses. Wafer packets were the highest in garbage while we were doing this activity and form the major chunk of garbage.

4>Responsibility and Accountability: Keeping our surroundings clean and garbage free is everyone’s responsibility but sadly in current situation “Everyone’s responsibility is Nobody’s responsibility” that’s how the general thinking is. Add to it the government departments who have yearly budget for such activities do not have any Accountability. We need to take steps to address this.

5>Attitude: It’s easy to see a post and comment on internet while being in comfort of your house but when it comes to WORK in ground level very few individuals have the courage and sense of responsibility to actually come forward and BE THE CHANGE YOU DESIRE.

We welcome you all to pour in with your suggestions / ideas to help us keep Palampur CLEAN and GREEN.

Thanks.