Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today met Jodie Underhill, known as "Garbage Girl", and promised funds to her organisation which is involved in waste management around tourist sites here.
Underhill, co-founder of the NGO Waste Warriors, started the weekly waste collection from Triund back in 2009 but due to a 1,000 per cent increase in the number of tourists the garbage is becoming increasingly difficult to manage and the costs have inevitably increased.
The chief minister expressed his gratitude for the work that Waste Warriors has been doing in the field of waste management and pledged his full support.
He said "I have been told that her organisation has been maintaining the cleanliness on the famous Triund trek route. Jodie told me that Waste Warriors - Dharamsala is planning to shut down their operations due to lack of funds. I promised her all possible help and directed the officials to immediately release some funds for the organisation".
A funding proposal was immediately passed onto Chander Prakash Verma, Deputy Commissioner with instructions to give whatever help was required.
The aim is for tourists to bring their waste back down from the mountain camp in reusable garbage bags and deposit the waste at a recycling and waste drop-off point near Mecleodganj (Upper Dharamshala).
Punjab National Bank has covered the capital costs of the project to the sum of Rs 2.2 lakh.
Waste Warriors has already collected and processed over 4,223 tonnes of waste from Bhagsunag and since they registered in 2012.
The NGO which also has projects in Dehradun and around Corbett Tiger Reserve has been running at a financial loss with the Dharamsala project due to a lack of funds and local support.
The NGO recently launched a crowd funding campaign in a final bid to save the project as a decision was made by management to close the project down.
Waste Warriors runs a door-to-door collection system and maintains the cleanliness of public places in Bhagsunag.
They have installed and maintain dustbins, educational and awareness activities and conduct weekly cleaning drives to Bhagsu Waterfall in addition to the Triund waste collection and hike.
Underhill said "We feel blessed that we got the opportunity to meet with the Chief Minister and are delighted that he is so supportive of our efforts. We were also able to meet with the Deputy Commissioner and he was also very appreciative of our work".
"Funding has been an ongoing issue for us as an organisation and government support is essential for projects like these to succeed," she said.
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