Litter-free Cubbon Park campaign gets fillip

Litter-free Cubbon Park campaign gets fillip
Deccan Herald

The litter-free campaign launched by a group of walkers at Cubbon Park is taking public participation in infrastructure development, to another level.

This could be a new toast raised to participatory development. This time, to revitalise one of the City’s most cherished lung spaces.

The litter-free campaign launched by a group of walkers at Cubbon Park is taking public participation in infrastructure development, to another level. Members of the Cubbon Mitra Sangha, have been collecting garbage from the park, both on a daily and weekly basis, since December 2006. And they are just warming up to the thought of a litter-free Cubbon Park.

“The park authorities were a bit sceptical during the initial stages of our work, but soon realised that we were serious. Apart from the weekly (Saturday) meetings and litter collection, four or five of us also do it on a daily basis,” Cubbon Mitra Sangha Convener Narendranath C K told Deccan Herald.

At present, the Sangha has 37 enrolled members. The members meet every Saturday between 7.30 am and 8.30 am, collect garbage from across the park and later dispose them. They come across age-groups — from eager children to senior citizens.

The Lavelle Road-based Sangha’s initiative has got a decisive fillip, with the Horticulture Director Vasanth Kumar’s assurance of support to a Public Private Partnership model of garbage disposal at the park. “Now that we have an organised functional structure and have dedicated task groups in place, we are ready for such intensive campaigns,” said Mr Narendranath, an architect who has been visiting the park for over 18 years.

The Sangha has, till date, been financially backed by individual contributions from members. With new responsibilities in the offing, members are looking at opening a combined bank account. Also in the agenda are association with NGOs and youth groups, and awareness programmes for visitors.

“We’ve started out in our own little way. But we could certainly do with larger numbers,” he said. For details, call 22210631.