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A one day trek was organised for children from Srinagar's Zabarwan park to Shankaracharya hills on Saturday to give a message to society to keep the river Jhelum free from pollution.
Shugul organised the event in collaboration with MTC Club. The event, "Save Jhelum", saw the participation of 70 students. Children from many schools took part in the hike to remind the society of the importance of keeping the river cleans and on keeping oneself fit by doing exercises. They seemed elated to take part in the campaign. An organiser, Imran Khan, said, "Today is our trekking program from Zabarwan park to Shankaracharya temple. Our theme is "save Jhelum", and the trekking was done following social distancing and all COVID-19 SOPs, so only 70 children have been taken along." "Today there will also be a slogan competition on our theme of saving Jhelum. In a previous campaign drive, we cleaned Jhelum, but I understood that there is no point cleaning Jhelum unless people are made aware on the importance of keeping it clean," he further said. "Kids will be motivated to stay fit and if they give the message to keep the river clean it will reach the hearts of people. People will think if these kids can do it, then why cannot old people like us do it?" Monisa Tariq, a participant said, " Save Jhelum, it was Kashmir's beauty, now it is very dirty. With trekking, we are aiming to take the message of maintaining the river clean for society." "What is happening with these people. Why do not they understand that we are drinking that same dirty water, and it is killing our immune system?" she asked. "They are thinking what is wrong in making our environment dirty, after all my house is clean. The cuteness of these kids may change the mind of these people," she added. Mehak, one of the youngest participant said, "Jhelum should remain clean, that is why we are on trekking today. People should not throw their leftover food into Jhelum. Please put it in a dust bin." Rehmat Jan another participant said, "Due to this trekking program, we got out from social media, from our phones, our homes. We are trekking to save Jhelum. It is our heritage and it is important to save it. This is a good platform to send that message to the society." "I want to tell people to please not put their waste into Jhelum river because it is a beautiful river," she further said. Saina a participant said, "This is one-day trekking, we are individually seeking ways to protect Jhelum. (ANI)
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