Andhra Engineer Spends 70% Of Her Salary to Clean 2 Cities & Make Them Poster-Free!



During her final year of BTech, Tejaswi Podapati was reading a report in The Hindu which stated that her hometown of Ongole in Prakasam district was the third most backward city in what was then a united Andhra Pradesh.

The information hurt her deeply."Rather than blaming the government, I wanted to do something about this problem. During my research, I found that filthiness was one of the city's major drawbacks. Then I read about The Ugly Indian initiative (an anonymous group of volunteers who clean the streets) in Bengaluru and thought why not try this in Ongole. But there were concerns about whether we could get volunteers," says Tejaswi.

While my mother was concerned about what society would say if I started cleaning the streets, my father issued his complete support. When I initially asked my friends to join me in this endeavour, 80% said no. I gave this news to my father, who responded by asking me to look at the positive—the fact that 20% said yes—and go with it. If he hadn't given me this insight, I wouldn't have ever started this initiative," she adds.

On October 15, 2015, which is Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's birthday, Tejaswi went with 10 volunteers to a park in Ongole and started cleaning it. Thus, began the Bhoomi Foundation.

That's when their 'One Goal, Clean Ongole' initiative took off. The same park which was filthy for decades became clean, and the people who mocked them earlier were now appreciating their work.

"Every weekend, I would select a single spot in the city, go there and start cleaning it. That's how we've ended up cleaning 125 spots in and around Ongole. We started with 10 volunteers, but now we have 3500 volunteers," informs the 25-year-old.

Having said that, the journey wasn't easy. Once Tejaswi and her volunteers would clean-up the trash at one spot, it would pile up again.
In the past two years, however, the Bhoomi Foundation has been working between Hyderabad and Ongole on alternating weekends. They have cleaned 80+ spots in Hyderabad. Although Tejaswi doesn't seek donations, she is planning to ask the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation to give her some material. "If I'm spending money, there might come a point when I can't sustain it. So, I want to approach them for materials," she adds.
Source & Credit:The Better India

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