Change starts with yourself and it is done by a young man from Chennai. If people see garbage on the roads and public places of the country, then often people turn their faces. But this young man did not like it at all. Chennai, which was in the news this year due to the scarcity of underground water. The reason for this is not to take proper care of the reservoirs of Chennai. Chennai had a net of lakes and reservoirs, but indifference towards unconscious constructions and net sources have brought Chennai into this situation.
To solve this problem, this young man quit the job of Google and went to clean the reservoirs of Chennai. This campaign started with some people has become a movement and till now more than 93 ponds and lakes have been cleaned. The name of the youth who gave shape to this campaign is Arun Krishnamurthy.
Arun has worked in 14 states of the country as well as Chennai through the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI). This organization, started in 2007, extracts waste as well as harmful substances like plastic, rubber and other substances from the reservoirs. After this, work is done to save the reservoir from getting dirty again.
Arun tells IANS that due to being raised in Chennai, there was a close relationship with lakes and reservoirs. In the back of leaving his magnificent job, he wanted to see greenery along with frogs, fish and birds instead of waste in these reservoirs. When the work started, people got along with the local administration. After this the work increased and today a big movement has been formed.
Arun says that we work closely with the state and central government. Our institutes prepare detailed reports to clean the reservoir through EFI. We are happy that the government also promotes such works and we also get all the documents and permissions. We do not accept individual donations but if someone wants to join as a volunteer, then they can join.
EFI is currently associated with school and college students to senior citizens. Volunteers join us through the campaign ‘Volunteer for India and her Environment with EFI’. Along with this, campaigns like ‘Cyclakes’ and ‘Wall-E’ are being run for awareness in the society. From cycling on the banks of the lake to children, environmental related paintings are done in public places.
With increasing awareness in the society, many people are joining us. Along with governments, many private organizations and groups such as Hinduja Foundation, Murugappa Group, Shriram Group are included. Since leaving Chennai, his organization is working on more than 35 active projects in many cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Puducherry, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.
Arun appealed to the people to save the environment, saying that India’s environment is very magnificent. We must learn from our history to save it. With this we should actively work for their protection.
