How NGO is helping change the cleanliness landscape in Abohar

Every Saturday the NGO volunteers look for any dirty corner in the town and clean the area.

The NGO was floated in September 2021 by Sandeep Jakhar, who in 2022 became MLA of Abohar after he won the assembly elections on a Congress ticket. In June 2022 he was suspended from the Congress after his uncle Sunil Jakhar switched to the BJP and he (Sandeep Jakhar) removed the Congress flag from the rooftop of his house.

“The NGO has over 70 dedicated volunteers — from rickshaw pullers to doctors, lawyers, small shopkeepers to wholesale businessmen. We select pockets of the city and clean that area on Saturdays and people of that area also join us. Apart from picking up garbage and litter, we also engage school and college students in painting walls on roadsides (depicting importance of a clean and green environment). These days we have also been planting saplings on Hanumangarh road,” said Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar.

The youngest volunteer of this NGO is seven-year-old Reyansh Yadav who has been accompanying his father for the past one year, while the oldest one one is 62-year-old Jagdish Khod.

Residents paint walls to draw people’s attention to cleanliness. (Express Photo)

“Ab Kachra uthana bura nahi lagta (now we don’t feel bad in picking up garbage),” said Vikas Singla, a businessman and volunteer of the NGO told The Indian Express. “The volunteers wear gloves, masks and use their garden tools while planting saplings during the plantation drive. They carry dustbins while picking up garbage, which are loaded in a vehicle and disposed of at a common solid waste management site of the city,” said Singla.

Most of the funds are arranged by Jakhar and at times a few volunteers contribute voluntarily, revealed information.

“All this started from 2021 onwards and now we can see clean corners at many parts of the city. If we find any dirty corner, we reach at that site on Saturdays and clear the mess,” Jakhar added.

Volunteer Sonu Chhabra, who was a rickshaw puller in 2021, too chips in with his mite. Today he has switched to e-rickshaw. He regularly visits the cleaning drive spot on weekends and does his bit to keep the city clean, revealed information.

No doubt waterlogging is an issue after every downpour in Abohar, but information from Abohar Municipal Corporation revealed that now the water gets drained out within a few hours of the rain which earlier used to take a day or even more at a few locations. Though municipal corporation authorities too have door-to-door collection of garbage now, volunteers of the NGO say, “Drains get choked by plastics thrown by people. As plastic items and bottles are picked up in the NGO’s cleanliness drive, they don’t clog up the drains anymore. This is perhaps one reason that the rainwater is drained out in a few hours from the waterlogged roads,” Jakhar said.

Divya Jyoti Sansthan (another NGO) arranges tea and snacks for the volunteers on second and fourth Saturdays, Jakhar added.

A boy cleans a dirty corner in Abohar as part of the NGO drive. (Express Photo)

How it started

In 2017, Abohar was ranked the second dirtiest city in the country in Swachh Survekshan (cleanliness survey) conducted by the Centre and it was at the bottom of the heap in Punjab. Its rank was 278 in 2018, followed by 232 in 2019. In 2020, it slipped to 380 at national level.
The watershed year was 2021 when the urban local body (ULB) got 105th rank nationally and stood fifth in the state.

“Apna Abohar Apni Aabha drive was started in 2021. In 2022, we had our best performance. We were the number 1 ULB in Punjab in 2022 and 78th in India. We have come a long way from being the dirtiest city to being among the cleanest, and I am happy about it. Our mite is bearing fruit,” said Jakhar. In 2023, Abohar was the second-cleanest ULB after Mohali with a national rank of 105. “We are there at the top in terms of cleanliness and hope to improve further in 2024.” Abohar is a ULB among the cities having 1-10 lakh population.

Marathons

Apart from this, Abohar is also witnessing marathons (10 km and 5 km) twice a year which are organised by the Jakhar Trust for raising awareness about health and sports. This was started in 2022 when 1,500 people took part in the marathons. In 2023, the number rose to 8,500 which saw participation from both urban and rural people. This year’s marathon will be in October, Jakhar said.