Dubai: An Indian student’s successful environmental campaign in Sharjah has helped him bag the NRI of the Year Award 2017 in Mumbai, India.
Eighteen-year-old Abhinav Singla, who graduated in 2016 from our Own English High School, Sharjah, received the prestigious award in the Academics Category in the award’s fourth edition on July 11.
Presented by Times Now, ICICI Bank and GIIS (Global Indian International School), the award recognises the deserving spirit of those globetrotting Indians who have made a change by their work and action reaching the pinnacles of success globally by rising every day.
Singla launched ‘Clean Up Sharjah Campaign’ in 2014 to make Sharjah a more cleaner and greener city, he told Gulf News from India.
His initiative started as a small idea, which was later expanded into three editions and is still being continued by hundreds of students living in Sharjah. The monthlong campaign mainly included four events — recycling, cleanup, plant seeding and awareness spreading.
“I received a lot of support from students, more than I had ever expected. We had recycling drives in which we collected [a large number] of items for recycling and deposited them with the local waste management company, Bee’ah,” said Singla, who is continuing his education in India after being raised in the UAE.
“One of the activities was to go to areas where cleaning was quite necessary and we helped in making these areas look clean again. We used to get frequent requests from residents at times to visit their areas,” he added.
The first edition of Singla’s campaign in 2014 saw more than 500 students participating and the number kept growing, he said.
“We had hundreds of students showing their support in the cleanup events. When the second edition was launched, there were more than 1,500 people and in the following year, when I was already in India, many students still wanted to run the event.”
Singla, currently studying chemical engineering, won the award in a tie between him and another Dubai-based Indian teenager, Simran Vedvyas. He said it was a big honour winning the prize.
“It was a major surprise. I never thought something which I started back in 2014 would turn out to be such a huge success. We are also planning the fourth edition and I’m surprised that so many people are still approaching me and supporting the initiative ... it’s a true blessing.”
Singla has previously been chosen for other awards. He received the International Diana Award from then British Prime Minister David Cameron and Sharjah Environment Awareness Award 2015.
