FSL-India’s CEL team heard about the ‘clean environment’ efforts of Mr Ganesh Poojari, who is a resident of Kannada Kudru Island, Kundapur taluk. So, they visited him to find out what makes him tick. For 10 years, he worked hard in a restaurant at Dubai. A year ago, he came back from Dubai and now runs a bakery at Kundapur. He was fascinated by the example set by Dr A J Kalam, India’s late President, Mrs Sudha Murthy, the well-known author and philanthropist,  and Ratan Tata, the famous industrialist and philanthropist.

He was especially inspired after reading many of Mrs Sudha Moorthy’s  articles and the books ‘India 2020, A Vision for the New Milennium’ by Dr Kalam and YS Rajan, as well as ‘Wings of Fire’, which is the story of Dr Kalam. He decided to do his little bit towards conservation of the environment in his home town.

Mr Poojari’s house is built on the banks of the river Sowparnika.  Every Sunday, he collects the trash from the river in his own boat. After filling the trash into a large bag, he carries the trash on his own scooter and hands it over to the Kundapur Municipality’s trash vehicle.

Mr Poojari always keeps 1 bag with him to collect whatever trash is found on the road leading to his home, and puts it into the bag. In addition, he is planning to plant jackfruit saplings by the roadside, to contribute towards the environment of Kundapur. Inspired by this one highly motivated individual, other people in the vicinity have started collecting trash to keep their areas clean.