BANGALORE: We celebrated our 65th Independence Day. A lot has changed in the country. The cities have become more polluted and citizens are bearing the brunt eventually. In an effort to spread awareness on saving the city from pollution, Clean and Green held a cycle rally in Bangalore. Clean and Green is an organisation that was started of by Hari Ram a businessman a year ago. This forum strives on reducing the pollution in our city. To do this, students and MNC professionals gather together and spread the green message across the city in order to make a difference. This is done once every week once but in small numbers. But understanding that Independence Day could be their best opportunity, they hosted their first major cycle rally in the city.Apart from professionals, more than 340 students from various colleges in Bangalore participated in the rally. The rally started at 9 am in Langford Road from Waterstone Premises and came back to Langford Road through Ashoka Pillar, Madhavan Park, V V Puram and J C Road. In an hour, the group covered more than 11 kms and spread the green message to more than thousands of citizens. Participants travelled together with all safety measures and spread the green message through posters and calling out slogans for a pollution free city. The preparation for the rally started a week ago when the organisation visited various schools and colleges in Bangalore telling them about the rally. The response from students was positive. As the word spread along more people started showing interest in the rally. Since the organisation could hold only 350 participants, the rally wasn’t open to public but only for those who registered in the morning. By morning, 342 people registered for the rally.Hari Ram who organised the rally said, “It’s not enough just to conduct meetings and events on the Independence Day; the people should also get a clear message. This rally was organised to spread the message to free India from pollution.” The participants who brought their own cycles were provided with t-shirts, water and breakfast. Santhu a participant said. “It is not possible to use cycles in our day to day work. But once a week if we use cycles, we can reduce the pollution in our city. He also added, “To cover short distance it is better to use a bicycle because it does not cause any pollution and also keeps one healthy.”Ram who addressing the gathering said, “This time we had capability to have only 350 participants. Next year we will make this bigger to 1,000 participants and cover more parts of the city.”The enthusiasm showed by all the participants and even the traffic police and the public, made this event a successful one. It was evident from the faces of the participants who crossed the finish line smiling.
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