ASHA, VoA,celebrate and share Deepwali with Army’s E-Brigade
5 Dariya News
Amritsar 01-Nov-2018
Amritsar Sacred Heart Alumni (ASHA) NGO celebrated Deepwali with the employees of the Solid Liquid Resource Management (SLRM), a project under the Indian Army’s Cantonment Board, this time. The Deepawali event was conducted at the site of SLRM and NGO ASHA was joined in this endeavour by another vibrant NGO Voice of Amritsar (VoA) to spread the message of love and sharing during the festival.SLRM’s E-Brigade a Force of 80, including 73 women is a woman run majorly self-sustaining Resource Management Project initiated by the Amritsar Cantonment Board. Interstingly the Amritsar Cantonment was constituted in 1856 much before partition.On the occasssion special guests included CEO (Chief Executive Officer ) Vivek Singh, former Air Commodore MS Ahluwalia accompanied by Sanitary Inspector (SI) Anil who supervised the daily operation of waste collection as well its enviormental friendly disposal and recycling.CEO Vivek informed the select gathering of members of ASHA & VoA,about SLRM being the first of its kind project in North India. He stated that the cantonment board was in the process of installation of solar panels to reach the goal of a green cantonment . Other cantonments in Punjab have also taken the cue from Amritsar and are in the process of setting up the start-up SLRM projects, he added.Women of SLRM who had set up an exhibition of types of waste retrieved from garbage, described how 18 cycle Rikshaws and 7- E-Rikshaws quietly take a round of 2500 cantoment homes every morning and evening and follow it up with manual segregation of waste for cycling besides dumping green or wet waste into pits for compost preparation. The segregated waste is sold as also the compost at Rs 20, a kilo. In two years since its inception in 2016, SLRM has not only provided employment to women but also sold about 2000 Kgs of compost and waste material and earned lakhs to go towards self sustainment of the project.
SLRM womenexplained how waste management is conducted with color coded dustbins and corresponding collection rikshaws driven by women, as a first step. Incidently not many would know that there are multiple types of items under a single category. For instance, there are 13 types of rubber items, 26 types of glass, 64 types of plastic, 15 types of Paper, 21 types of metal, nine types of cardboard and 10 types of plastic covers besides cloth, which are sold to contractors. Even chapatis and bread are segregated and sold at Rs 10 a kilo and used as animal feed.The event attendees were given a round of the operating area along with live commentary about its operations and detailed explaination through a model crafted by employees. Rashmi Talwar, President ASHA while lauding the green brigade for its stellar work said that Municipal Corporations must emulate such a project and make a better India. Already Delhi and other big cities are in danger of sinking under garbage dumps.It won’t be long when the world too would look forward to such a project, she added. Mona Mehra, Pooja Mehra, Mini Kapoor, Sangeeta Seth, Ashwinder Ahluwalia, Rumita Arora, Neera, Manpreet of ASHAalong with VoA’s Neeta Mehra and Indu Arora and SLRM’s SI Anil, organised the event.Daily use utensils, stoles and Diwali goodies were distributed to employees along with distribution of over 150 tree saplings by ASHA in seven varieties. Senior Forest officials Mr NS Randhawa, Mr Rajesh Gulati said that the collection of trees induded Kachnaar, Kanak Chamba, Silver oak, Bottle Brush, Bel, Neem and Kathar. The special guests were gifted Arucaria Tree Saplings by ASHA as an endeavour to push for cleaner and greener city.Women employees of SLRM sold inhouse made compost at Rs 20/ a kilo to guests besides presenting a colourful bhangra that was joined in by all NGO members.Former Principal SR Government College for Women Mrs Jasmeet Kaur put forward a proposal for keeping First Aid boxes handy in case of injuries while another member suggested human parity and dignity for employees.