A drive by school students to clean up Rabindra Sarobar got a boost on Sunday with morning walkers joining the initiative, but littering in the afternoon continued to undo the good work.
The students who have been cleaning a portion of Rabindra Sarobar around Menoka cinema moved further afield to a 1km stretch near Safari Park on Sunday.
Every Sunday morning over the past two months, around 40 students of Modern High School for Girls and La Martiniere for Boys have been picking up all kinds of litter - such as plastic cups, potato chips packets and bidi-ends - from the Sarobar greens.
While the current drive has been on for eight Sundays, separate groups of school students have been involved in the Lakes clean-up for several years. The students have even lent a hand to members of a rowing club and an NGO to clean the water body.
The number of volunteers has recently dwindled as many students are out of town because of the ongoing summer vacation. So, those still soldiering on have decided to involve morning walkers to ensure the drive does not run out of steam.
The response was, however, mixed.
While some 15 people flatly refused to get their hands dirty, about a dozen readily agreed. One lady, Charulata Banerjee, didn't even have to be asked.
Banerjee, a doctor who works with children suffering from malnutrition, put on the gloves the students were only too happy to provide and joined the group in clearing the Lakes premises.
"For years I have been walking in the Sarobar compound every morning. When I saw the children crouching to pick up gutkha packets and cigarette butts, I felt I must join them," smiled Banerjee, a resident of Lansdowne.
Banerjee feels the drive would be futile unless there is some kind of vigilance to prevent people from littering.
Earlier, there were hardly any garbage bin but now there are many. So, lack of bins cannot be an excuse for people to dirty the place.
Pinaki Gupta, 72, a resident of Dhakuria, pointed out that most of the littering occurred in the evenings, "when hawkers invade the place".
"It's hard to explain but we at times find portions of the ground we had cleaned dirtier than it was. It could be because people tend to spend more time in these cleaner areas and end up making it dirtier," said Shruti Keoliya, a Class XII student of Modern High, who is part of the drive.
The lake is maintained by the Calcutta Improvement Trust, which is under the municipal affairs department.
Municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim acknowledged that littering in the afternoon and evening was a problem at Rabindra Sarobar.
"There are guards at Rabindra Sarobar and it's their duty to ensure no one litters. We are planning a drive with the guards. They will be asked to be more vigilant," said the minister.
