Number of school students have contributed in cleaning up of lakes in a campaign which was held today at two places; Lake Fateh Sagar and Dudhtalai. The event started at 3:30 pm and lasted till 6:30 in evening.

The lake cleanup was solely initiated by students without any official support of schools they belong to; however, the project was executed under the coordination of Ocean Conservancy a U.S based organization and Indian Maritime Foundation (IMF) which is a part of Indian Navy.

Students mostly under-18 years of age has meticulously made the shores of the lake and road adjoining to it free from garbage and trash thrown by some of the most irresponsible and unaware masses of the city.

The project, International Coastal Cleanup is an event which is held on regular basis since the year 2003 in India by IMF and Ocean Conservancy. It is for the first time someone from Udaipur has undertaken the work in order to create awareness among common citizens and the administration of the city.

It was when a few months back Divye Walwani, a student of class twelfth science came across IMF while surfing net where he learnt about their mission and projects. Divye approached IMF coordinator and ex-navy commander Mukund Lele who later helped Divye in organizing this event in Udaipur.

Divye was soon joined by his classmate and friend Hemant Agarwal and shortly the handful of group went bigger with more and more students, their friends and even relatives who showed interest in participating in cleaning up lake side areas.

“We started mobilizing our group and made it more organized for better coordination. I am thankful to our teachers Ms. Jaya, Gaurav Goswami sir and Mukesh Shrimali sir,” says Divye who have a desire to study International Relations. “From raising funds to taking permissions from various government departments, we managed everything by our own,” Divye said.

When asked what inspired you to join the group, Hemant Agarwal said, “I joined because I felt this is something which is very much needed as our city is world famous for its lakes but because of a few, who make the lake area dirty, it becomes an inconvincible reason to be embarrassed.”

Explaining the method of implementation, Divye said, “We have divided the work into 2 locations and 8 sites, lake Fateh Sagar is divided in 6 sites and Dudhtalai in 2 sites, each site has one captain to control his/her team.”

Site captains Arnav Harry, Yashasvi, Rohan Mehta, Farheen Hatim Ali, Aman Sharma, Kingshuk Banerjee, Avinash Mann and Abhimanyu Singh managed their teams effectively.

Every volunteer is given a certificate by IMF after the successful completion of the event.

There is no testimony required to validate the dedication and love these school students of Udaipur have shown today. Their dedication for our beautiful city which is known for its lakes is really praiseworthy.

Unlike many older generations who were asked to take part in social works like cleaning of lakes etc. and they have to attend it anyhow, with or without their wish, these teenagers have shown their responsibility and have taken the initiative of cleaning major sides of the lakes independently.

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