We don’t really hesitate to throw the waste on the floor but we blame the government for no reason. The problem is not the government or politician but it is you! The problem wouldn’t have started if you dispose of the garbage to the dustbin.
Case in point, Pune resident by the name of Vivek Gurav is someone who doesn’t sit around and blame others for throwing plastic in his city. But instead, he framed his own team and started picking up massive amount of plastic waste that was being generated in the city.
He didn’t wait for the local authorities to clean it up but he decided to do his part as a citizen to keep his city neat and clean. The 24-year-old Vivek Gurav who works as a software engineer set a great example which people from other states should follow suit.
Gurav, who was involved in several clean-up drives in Pune ever since he was a teenager came up with a great idea of plogging, and along with his friends have been spending quality time at the weekends picking up trash from the city. Keeping the city clean gives them a great sense of accomplishment and personal satisfaction.
Plogging, is a useful concept that was actually introduced in Sweden, where people pick up trash while jogging.
At first, Gurav and few friends were involved in the cleanup drives but as the word spread in the city, people saw their work and soon more and more joined in, making it a mass movement.
“We had originally started plogging since July, on a pilot basis. It was a small community of 15-20 people. On October 2nd we launched it officially and since then we have been conducting plogging drives regularly. Most of them take part in the drives on the weekends as they are working professionals. But there are others including me who do it every day. Every morning we go for walks, where we also collect the garbage,” Gurav said.
Gurav said that since September, they have managed to pick up over 40,000 kg of garbage from several locations of the city.
“Last weekend we completed our target of 40,000 kgs of garbage till now. Recently, after realizing how popular plogging has become the Pune Municipal Corporation also joined hand with us and organized a mega ploggathon which saw the participation of more than one lakh citizens. On that day alone we managed to collect more than 20,000 kgs of plastic,” he added in a statement.
“I have been associated with various cleanliness drives in Pune for six years. Littering is a big problem, which people do even unknowingly. This is what I want to do. I want to tell people what they are doing is wrong. For this, they have to start picking up the waste lying around, only then they will realize that what they were doing was wrong. It also sends out a message on how citizens can do their part in keeping their neighbourhood clean,” Gurav said.