PAMPORE: Volunteers of NGO, Zoon, carried out cleanliness drive at Lal Trag park named after famous Kashmiri saint Lal Arifa here in Saffron Town Pampore area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
The drive was organised by the Volunteers of ZONE in collaboration with students of Islamia High School Pampore.
Around 100 both boy’s and girls of the NGO and the high school participated in the cleanliness drive.
They collected a huge quantity of garbage from park for proper disposal.
“The drive was carried out to commemorate Earth Day, we thought that we should do something as responsible individuals,” Seher Murawat, a volunteer of ZOON told Kashmir Reader, adding that their attention was turned towards the famous Laltrag Park.
“This is our responsibility to keep our surroundings clean, we can’t blame government for everything,” she said, adding that they cleaned the park as responsible members of the society.
She also thanked the Municipal Committee Pampore for arranging vehicles and lifted the garbage.
“The park was turned into a dumping site for garbage and passersby would take it as a garbage site and not as a park which has been developed after famous saint of Kashmir, Lal Arifa,” a Waqas Masoodi, a student from Islamia high school Pampore told Kashmir Reader.
He said that the park is situated close to their school.
“The government should take strict action against the people who throw garbage into the park,” he demanded.
He said that they feel ashamed when visitors from different areas of Kashmir come to see the park.
“The visitors see nothing but huge piles of garbage which belittles the significance of the park and bring disgrace to us,” he said, adding that they carried out a cleanliness drive to send a message to the residents living around the park not to litter it.
Manzoor Ahmad, teacher of Islamia high school told Kashmir Reader that the littered park is a nuisance for the school.
“The stink of the garbage reaches our school and is a source of infections, ” he said, adding that in the past administration used to maintain it.
“The park was damaged in 2014 and after that no serious attention was paid to the maintenance of the park,” he said and demanded that administration maintain the park round the year.

BILAL HABIB