Gurgaon residents turn green soldiers

As Gurgaon geared up to vote in the recent MCG elections, a group of volunteers, armed with brooms, gloves, carts and bin bags, set out cleaning the kilometre-long stretch from Hewo Part-1 Apartments to HUDA Market Road in Gurgaon’s Sector 56 area.

The volunteers chose the day of the MCG elections, September 24, to highlight the problem of rampant garbage-dumping in the area. “We realised that saplings were dying because of the constant dumping of garbage. We thought of taking the issue in our hands. We went door to door, asking more residents to join in,” says a volunteer, Nupur Agarwal Kalra, a Gurgaon resident.

Started three months back with just two volunteers, the self-funded group, called Green Soldiers, has decided to conduct monthly cleanliness drives.

“The group was formed with the intention to make Gurgaon cleaner, by planting saplings across the city. We started with a WhatsApp group, and more people joined in. Our first step was a plantation drive a couple of months back. At that time, we planted 70 saplings across the kilometre-long stretch. We hope to spread to other areas of Gurgaon, too,” adds Nupur.

Another Gurgaon resident, Deeksha Babhoota, says, “I would pass through the street every day, wondering what I could do to make the place greener and cleaner. We need the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) to back our efforts.”