Dharamshala youths collect garbage, motivate others to do so

Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) [India], September 13 : In a bid to spread awareness among people about garbage management, a group of youths calling themselves the Dhauladhar Cleaners pick up garbage on the hills in Dharamshala on weekends.
Sandhya, a research scholar at Central University who is a part of this team, told ANI, "We collect garbage on every Sunday. Our aim is to make people aware of garbage management and motivate them to keep this place clean."
"I have been working with Dhauladhar Cleaners for last one year and we call each other as DC. During the lockdown period, no tourists were visiting here and when we resumed our work in unlock phase one we noticed new kinds of garbage being disposed of here, like masks and disposables of packed food. After joining this group I feel the change in my own life as it has changed our own habits of throwing garbage," she added.
The team of young, energetic and educated youths in Dharamshala region are cleaning hills here. They have selected a small village Indru Nag as one of their pilot projects.
They are also motivating and educating local people especially shopkeepers regarding garbage management and its disposal.
Abhay Karki, another volunteer and team member said, "Earlier, we thought that only tourists throw waste and spread garbage here but after the imposition of lockdown we discovered the equal amount of garbage disposal in the hills. So it changed our mindsets that local people are also equally responsible for disposing of the garbage irresponsibly."
"Now we are joining hands with local shopkeepers and making them aware of garbage collection and its disposal. We come here once in a week mostly Sundays or Saturdays and local people also join us. Initially, it was a big challenge for us to get volunteers but when we started lots of youth joined us. And these days there are very fewer tourists so we are getting more space to clean," Karki added.
Arvind Sharma is a brainchild behind this project. He said that about a year ago he came here with his son and found him reading titles of wine bottles lying around.
"He asked me about that and then I decided to make the area clean and to find a solution for it. Initially, we are cleaning this village Indru Nag and hills around but our main aim is to find permanent solutions for this type of pollution. We are close to our aim but right now I can't disclose our plan due to institutional reasons. We are also motivating locals to work together in garbage management. I am sure we will be able to execute a solution to this problem soon," he added.