Karimnagar youth get together to clean Lower Manair Dam

KARIMNAGAR:   What started with one man’s resolve to clean up Karimnagar’s Lower Manair Dam (LMD) has turned into a small-scale people’s movement of sorts. On September 28, which marked the 112th birth anniversary of legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, Bhavin Patel, a businessman from Karimnagar set out to clean the city’s popular tourist spot. 

With a signboard that read ‘No organisation. No politics’, Bhavin began cleaning up the surrounding areas of LMD. Soon, the word spread online and within the next 18 days, there were over 20 volunteers gathering at the spot every morning at 6 am. 

“The idea came to me one morning when I had gone to LMD for a run. Looking at all the trash, I could not focus on my fitness routine and decided to do something about it,” said Bhavin, who is an engineering graduate and is now a wholesale onion trader in Karimnagar market. Apart from picking up littered plastic and empty liquor bottles, the group of youngsters also promoted the cause online. As a result, their initiative got recognition from the commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Karimnagar (MCK),  G Venugopal Reddy, who also volunteered and arranged for dust bins along the earth bund stretch of LMD. He also ensured for the trash collected by the youths to be picked up every morning. 

The group has also called for the public to be more aware about handling their waste when visiting LMD and throw it away in dust bins instead of littering it. Recently, a Class VII student, K Ritvika also participated in what is being called as the ‘dam cleaning programme’. Her participation further increased the popularity of the event among schoolchildren of Karimnagar.