The Rotary Club of Orchid City, Shillong collaborated in Puneet Sagar Abhiyan of National Cadet Corps (NCC), organised by the 61 Meghalaya (G) NCC Battalion at Umiam Lake, Ri-Bhoi district today.
Team of NCC led by Subedar Mahendra K. Yadav informed that Puneet Sagar Abhiyan is a flagship campaign of NCC to clean sea shores, beaches and other water bodies including rivers and lakes, of plastic and other waste and increase awareness amongst the local population about importance of keeping the beaches and river fronts clean.
A total of 94 NCC cadets from Union Christian College (UCC), Auxilium, University of Science & Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) and volunteers from NSS (USTM) participated in the cleaning drive organised under Puneet Sagar Abhiyan.
NCC Caretaker Officer Zaheeda Tariang from Auxilium School, Associate NCC Officer Phida-ri-iing Kharsyntiew from UCC, teachers from USTM along with cadets and members of Rotary Club of Orchid City Shillong led by Vice President Rtn Vivek Kumar joined in the initiative.
The participants conducted a cleaning drive at Umiam Lake area and collected a good amount of trash from the surroundings, which majorly included single-use plastics (bottles, wrappers, etc) and glass bottles.
Rtn Vivek Kumar, Vice President, Rotary Club of Orchid City, Shillong, stressed on the importance of water bodies to human and environment, and how pollution in water bodies, majorly by single-use plastics choke the rivers and other water bodies on the planet.
“This pollution is majorly the result of our inappropriate behaviour towards the environment,” Rtn Kumar said, adding that in the present day, we are suffering from ‘trash blindless’ and it is high time we find a cure because we have only one planet.
He stressed on public participation in solving the pollution crisis and said that it is the responsibility of each and every citizen to make individual and collective efforts to save the environment and water bodies.
Rtn Kumar further added that educating people on environmental conscious behaviour, and actively cleaning our rivers are the most effective ways to stop single-use plastic pollution from entering our environment, particularly in water bodies.
Subedar Mahendra K. Yadav thanked the Rotary Club of Orchid City, Shillong for collaborating in this campaign to save water bodies and its surroundings from solid waste pollution, majorly single-use plastics. He thanked the cadets for their active participation in the campaign.
