Eco Friends convened 'A Roundtable on Environmental issues of Kanpur ' for the students' leaders of various degree colleges of Kanpur . The objective of the Roundtable was to seek direct and active involvement of youth in addressing the environmental problems of Kanpur .
15 students' leaders from 5 different colleges participated in the Roundtable.
Rakesh K Jaiswal, Executive Secretary of Eco Friends, while briefing about the environmental issues of Kanpur , especially the issue of Ganga pollution, appealed to the participants to get actively involved in addressing the issues. He stressed on the urgency and necessity of youths' involvement in such issues. He inspired the students' leaders to launch a campaign in their respective colleges to make Kanpur- a clean city and Ganga-pollution free.
Dr A C Shukla suggested the leaders to use their energy, time and political influences for the environmental betterment of Kanpur . He said, "You are at the preliminary stage of your political career and away from the dirty politics and can better understand the problems of pollution in the city at the ground level."
The students' leaders came out with wonderful plans and suggestions during the discussion. Kushagra Pandey, President of the Students' Union, BND College , while presenting his thought, suggested to call for a complete bandh (closure) in the city to attract the attention of the government towards the pollution related problems of the town. Air pollution was the major concern for Mr. Pandey. He expressed his views to reduce the air pollution, suggesting that all the old vehicles should be driven out of the roads.
Sapna Singh, President, S N Sen Degree College, expressed her happiness in attending the Roundtable and announced that she would do her best to involve the entire college in this environmental movement. She requested Eco Friends to organize an awareness program in her college.
Abhisarika Gupta, President, Juhari Devi Girls PG College, assured to organise concert and stage shows on environmental issues to educate, aware and involve other students in this movement.
Sadaf Hashmi, Vice President and Shilpa Singh, Cultural President of D G College raised their concerns about the increasing pollution in river Ganga . They appealed to the participants to do their best to make Ganga pollution free.
The following decisions were taken during the first Roundtable:
- The Roundtable meet will be organized periodically in each college. Two such review meets will be organized in a month.
- The entire team of students' leaders will go for a field visit to various pollution hotspots of Ganga and Ganga Action Plan sites. Those who were not present in the Roundtable would be involved in the future.
- The students' leaders will launch environmental campaigns first within their colleges and then in the town with the support of Eco Friends.
The Roundtable ended with a vote of thanks by Ch. Harish Chandra. Prof. Chandra appraised the efforts of Eco Friends in bringing the students' leaders on a common platform and engaging them in such issues of common concern.
