New Delhi : Hundreds of volunteers wearing gloves and face masks picked up garbage along the Yamuna River yesterday to offset what they say is government inaction that has left the waterway a putrid sewer.
The volunteers hope the Commonwealth Games coming to New Delhi in October — the athletes' village is located on the river bank — will finally spur action to clean up what has become an embarrassment to the government and a public health crisis for the city.
The river water looks dark with a foul smell and some human waste flowing from city drains.
Hindu worshippers bathe in the river during religious festivals, but not many people swim there.
Nearly 800 people, mostly young students, worked to clean the river and its banks early yesterday. Some of them got into motorised boats to scoop the filth from the river in barrels.
"This is not river water, this is gutter water," said Sangeeta Anand, a spokeswoman for the Art of Living Foundation, sponsor of the clean up campaign.
Humanitarian group
The educational and humanitarian group, founded in 1982 by spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, plans to clean the river banks and build walkways and parks on the riverfront ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
"This is a mass citizen campaign to motivate people to become aware of what they are putting into the river — plastic, toxic wastes and all that sewage," Anand said. Government officials were not available for comment.
