“At first we thought of doing a blood donation camp or planting of trees but decided upon cleaning which is the most urgent requirement today.
“We did a survey to first identify the dirtiest place in Nashik and found that Ram-kund area, the main pilgrimage site, where the famous Kumbh mela is held every 12 years, needed a lot of cleaning,” he said.
Though the municipal corporation has been cleaning this temple town, it is always unclean. Every year, people come to this place on a pilgrimage. There are a lot of temples besides residential buildings in this area.
“Initially when we set about cleaning, people began to question us as to ‘why we are doing this’. We wanted everyone to realize that cleaning is something all can contribute and it is not that only the municipal corporation or the sweeper alone should do. It is a collective initiative to keep the society clean,” he said.
The Director of SIOM, Dr. Vandana Sonwaney, herself volunteered in this drive along with the students of the institute. The drive was undertaken with an aim to spread the message of keeping Nashik clean and to inspire the people to be more responsible towards the society and the environment.
The institute plans to extend its hand to the society by way of launching various initiatives like tree plantation, blood donation, working for the lesser privileged sections and much more in the near future.