A green cause could mean anything, really. It could mean stopping residents from offering food to cows on the streets, which, if left uneaten, could lead to open rotting waste. And that’s precisely how Green Team, a group of residents from Ahinsa Khand 2 in Indirapuram, began its journey in December 2016.
Besides creating awareness about open rotting waste, Green Team also found a unique way to ensure that the cows didn’t go unfed. It tied up with Gau Grass Sewa, a Delhi-based trust that conducts door-to-door food collection for cows, and had collection bins placed in several societies. "We googled the contact of the organisation, and things just fell into place quickly,” recounted Abhinav Agarwal, a group member, and resident of Rishabh Cloud 9.
The food collected in the designated bins is picked every evening by vehicles of the trust.
Residents feel the drive has brought about a significant change in people’s behaviour, and they no longer look for cows to get rid of wasted food.
And now, the members have taken up the longstanding issue of encroachment in the area.
Sunita Khokkar, a member of the group and a resident of SPS Heights, explained to City Spidey that one of the major problems with encroachment was that vendors just swept all the waste, including plastic packets, into the drains, completely chocking them.
"We are trying to reason with them to not get rid of waste in this manner," Khokkar said.
Members of the group have complained to the GDA about encroachment. It will also participate in an anti-encroachment drive in the area, along with the civic authorities.
The group now has about 15 active members from different societies.
"I had come up with the idea of Green Team in June 2015, but it failed to gather steam. But we began spreading the word and eventually, residents from various societies joined in. Anyone can participate — we don’t have a definite agenda, and our only aim is to keep our surroundings clean and green as far as possible," Agarwal maintained.