Mula-Mutha Riverbank Cleanliness Drive
Press Release
Mula-Mutha Riverbank Cleanliness Drive
TERRE redefines ‘Sharing Economy’ through Smart Campus Movement
“The economic system in which assets or services are shared typically by means of the Internet is a simple definition of sharing economy. We all heard of rent out your apartment, car, bike, even your wifi network when you don't need it. But have you heard of sharing our common environmental assets with an aim to prevent damage and enable their sustainable use?” That was the question posed by Rajendra Shende, Chairman of TERRE Policy Centre. He was talking on India River Day organised in association with Pune Municipal Corporation on 30th Nov. 2019.
TERRE Policy Centre has established the global network of University campuses called Smart Campus Cloud Network (SCCN) that encourages the local action in and around the campus to contribute to United Nations SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). It has developed an innovative mechanism of sharing natural assets.
Banks of Mula-Mutha river in Pune would be shared by the university eco-clubs in collaboration with Pune Municipal Corporation. Students of the Universities and Colleges would actively contribute towards cleaning of the river.
“It is not just cleaning of the river Mula-Mutha in Pune, rather it is cleaning of our mind from the dirty concept that ‘government would have to do that work’. We are partner with the government and we have to share the responsibility for sustaining the assets,” said Rajendra Shende while explaining the innovative mechanism of sharing the natural assets.
In the morning of 30th November, 500 young students from Symbiosis College, MIT College, Modern College, Bharati Vidyapeeth, Hazurpaga Mahila Vanijya Mahavidyalaya and Panditrao Agashe School took active participation towards cleaning the riverbank. The stretch of the riverbank was partly divided and handed over to each university students’ group for the clean-up. A competitive approach was initiated among the students to make their allotted stretch cleanest.
Pratyush Amrit Sahoo, a post-graduate student of environmental science from Bharati Vidyapeeth University expressed his enthusiasm to be a part of this cleanliness drive, “Smart Campus Cloud Network is an instrumental initiative for the youth in contributing to SDGs and also be engaged in campaigns that bring change for environment and society”, .
The drive was equally supported by Adar Poonawalla Clean City Initiative, which is working towards making the Pune city clean. They provided the equipments and vans for the efficient collection of waste during the drive.
Nilema Kakde, PMC Sanitary Inspector has assured their consistent support to TERRE and stated, “PMC is always proactive in associating with various organizations to ensure strong groundwork and making Pune city a Clean city”. Pune Municipal Corporation, a civic body governing Pune city was a major partner in organising this drive under its ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ a nation-wide campaign towards making the country clean.
Conclavers Global a youth led organization also took active participation with its student volunteers for co-ordinating and making the drive successful. Sarang Gutte Patil, Founder of Conclavers Global said, “We are looking forward to collaborate with TERRE Policy Centre in conducting similar activities for youth towards our common vision of sustainable development.”
Under Smart Campus Cloud Network (SCCN), TERRE will be organizing this riverbank clean-up drive regularly with the participation of educational campuses. Further to have an impactful work, the riverbank would be allotted to each university to keep it clean. A sharing mechanism will be followed to share every photographs, videos and stats of the waste collected by each university from their allotted part of the riverbank. This mechanism would help the universities to share their progress with another universities and colleges and develop a competitive spirit among the students.
Note for editors:
TERRE Policy Centre (www.terrepolicycentre.com) is a non-profit, non-partisan and independent organization dedicated to sustainable solutions to our developmental imperatives. TERRE also is the abbreviation for ‘Technology, Education, Research and Rehabilitation for the Environment.’ TERRE strives to reach all strata of society, particularly the young generation and people at the bottom of the pyramid with capacity building tools on energy and food security. Its motto is: "To think is good but to act is better”.
SCCN (www.sccnhub.com), project of TERRE Policy Centre facilitates colleges and universities to mainstream the future policy-makers and policy-implementers in implementing the SDGs by promoting sharing of the information on transformative actions undertaken by students and faculties in the campus. More importantly, it encourages to deploy the digital technologies like IoT (Internet of Thing), AI (Artificial Intelligence), Cloud-networking, Machine-to-machine learning and Block chain for optimum use of energy, water in campus and catalyse effective waste management, sustainable transport, air pollution and nature conservation within the campus.
Contact details:
Dinah Gengmei, Project Leader TERRE
Sourav Dutta, Project Coordinator TERRE
Phone: +91 020 2544 8650 / 2544 8488
Email:
