चैतन्य विज्ञान एवं कला महाविद्यालय, पामगढ़
CHAITANYA SCIENCE AND ARTS COLLEGE
PAMGARH, JANJGIR, CHAMPA (C.G.)
Affiliated to Shaheed Nandkumar Patel Vishwavidyalaya, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, India
Two-day public awareness camp was organized by the Chaitanya Science & Arts College Pamgarh 28.09.2019 and 14/10/2019 in the Gram Panchayat Bargaon and Mahka under the Jal Shakti Abhiyan of the Government of India. The main theme of the camp was to motivate the villagers for water conservation and eradication of single-use plastic materials. Under the leadership of Dr. Narendranath Guria, Head of Geography Department of the college, Mr. Rishabh Deo Pandey, Mr. Dhaval Shreyas Tiwari, NSS volunteers and a team of college students went from house to house and made public contact and spread awareness among the villagers about the importance of water. They also visited Ghuruwa, a traditional place to dump domestic waste. Discussing the residents of nearby houses regarding the plastic spread around the Ghuruva site, suggest them the ways of proper disposal by reducing the use of plastic. An open discussion was organized near the Gram Panchayat building. Dr. Garima Tiwari, Assistant Professor of Forestry Department of Guru Ghasidas Central University was invited as a Special Guest. Mr. Rishabh Deo Pandey, emphasized the importance of contamination free drinking water and the need to use it properly. The villagers were made aware about the diseases caused by contaminated water through a power point presentation. Showing a picture of the damage caused to the local and marine habitat due to single-use plastic, he said that the plastic residues being thrown everywhere are harming the soil, plants and animals on a large scale. There is a need to use proper disposal system while reducing its use. Dr. Guria drew attention to the impending water crisis and said that there has been a huge reduction in the per capita availability of water at present as compared to a few decades ago. Its adverse effect was on the average temperature of the crops and the environment. Senior citizens present in the meeting expressed their views on this subject and confirmed the negative changes. An inspiring documentary for water harvesting was performed by Dr. Guria showing the method of making soak peat. The keynote speaker, Dr. Garima Tiwari, joined the discussion and said that water harvesting is the responsibility of all of us. In some areas, women have to walk such a distance to fetch water that half of their daily routine is lost to this work. In such areas, on average half of a woman's life time is spent fetching water. Dr. Tiwari stressed on the need to plant more and more trees to avoid water crisis. She inspired people to use alternative means in place of single-use plastic. Sarpanch, the Representative of the village expressed his commitment to take necessary steps at the level of Gram Panchayat under Jal Shakti Abhiyan. Members of women's groups also expressed their views. Technical support was provided by Dhanesh Suryavanshi, Assistant Professor of the college in the entire program. A large number of villagers including the officials of the local panchayat and more than 180 students were present in the discussion.