Charudutta Panigrahi, Gurugram, 30 October 2022
The chutzpah, nerviness and forthrightness of Ganjam society is exemplary. Not many districts in India are so bountiful and yet tenacious in constantly enhancing last mile productivity, thrift and inclusiveness. Literature, Agriculture, Women entrepreneurship, Films and entertainment, Politics, Freedom movement (India and Odisha), Sports and everything else has a unique Ganjam stamp – intense, guileless ownership and non-obtrusive leadership.
Team Clean City (TCC), founded by local boy Saktidhara Rajguru (Sakti), has changed the face of Brahmapur city quietly and indelibly. This doesn’t look like a one-off initiative like the typical NGO programs done for funds or annual reports. Team Clean City is a band of volunteers which is on a mission to clean Brahmapur and reach out to the homeless, the abandoned or the publicly deserted mentally challenged. It is good news that Team Clean City is not yet registered as a NGO. But so far in the last about three years their growth has been almost 30 times. From about five champions on 5th July 2019, they are now about 150 champions. If they expand their team and require constant flow of resources, they could start working on Projects as an NGO and that might ring the demise of volunteerism. The pro bono volunteerism of professionals from all walks of life – Dr. Jaganmohan Mohapatro is a Doctor, Rashmirekha is a housewife, Anjali & Suryananrayan are Advocates, Jitendra and Rajesh work in public services – is what makes Team Clean City, clean volunteers first. A clean team can do cleaning work the best.
TCC volunteers take on mountains of waste and years of apathy in one of Odisha’s most populous cities. Brahmapur, not long ago, was notoriously filthy, and riled as a ‘dirty city’ and ‘stinking city’. As a first step, Sakti and his champions pulled out posters from city walls, houses and compounds. This probably gave the glue, the rallying point for the ‘indifferent city dwellers’ to join hands. Even before joining hands, they took time to believe in the change and in the change doers. Willingness to change is the biggest barrier in present day Odisha civil society rejuvenation. Status quo is comfortable and self-serving. But Sakti and team raised a mission statement – ନିଜ ଘର ନିଜ ସହର ସଫା ରଖିବା (Our House, Our City we shall keep Clean). It was no less than a Mission. The passivity of city people can become the biggest hurdle for any urban development.
The zeal with which TCC committed itself to the cleaning work and executed from the front, stupefied the entire city and the district. News travelled and more joined the bandwagon. The team literally dirtied their hands, cleaned drains, public places, rescued the homeless, cleaned them, rehabilitated them, helped accident victims and are now the City Heroes. The movement is now at a stage where they are poised to guide similar initiatives in rest of Ganjam, Gajpati, Rayagada, & Phulbani.
In many ways TCC has salvaged the reputation of Ganjam and Brahmapur as the origin of many social movements in Odisha. Wunnava Venkata Varaha Buchi Ramalingam, Pandit Ramalingam of Brahmapur was a revered teacher, dedicated freedom fighter and a social advocate. During his teaching career he pioneered an innovative style of student counselling including a feedback system to the guardians or parents at their homes. This was unique in India and unheard of then. In 1927 he started a mobile bank in Ganjam and in 1929 opened a Cooperative bank. His students included V.V Giri (former President of India), B. Jagannath Das (Supreme Court Judge and Chairman, 2nd Pay Commission), and former Chief Justice Lingaraj Panigrahi. TCC assists Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) in mopping up city waste. The once litigated, black hole of centuries of garbage, the 150-year-old Ramlingam Tank has been turned into an entertainment park, beyond imagination. This is a perfect ode to our respected Buchi Ramalingam Sir.
TCC has forged partnerships with the BeMC and the Collector’s office and this need not be always a formal MoU. Work can be better and faster even without MoUs. We often get mired in formalities with zilch end result or impact. TCC supported the COVID frontline warriors and public workers. The transgender community contributes to the drives, selflessly.
Since the group started they have cleared up thousands of tonnes of waste including plastic and more importantly have planted the faith in the city people that a few people can make a big difference and that they, the city habitants, can’t always pass on the buck to public departments. Blame should lie on each one in the city. They remind them of the war cry – ନିଜ ଘର ନିଜ ସହର ସଫା ରଖିବା (Our House, Our City we shall keep Clean). Keeping our cities clean is nothing short of a war with ourselves.
Through the driving rain, sweltering Brahmapur heat, volunteers start to trickle in from 8 a.m, putting on gloves, caps and raincoats and collecting and piling rubbish. A few refuse trucks/small vans and diggers hum around, gathering mounds of waste. The city walls are no more defaced with posters, writings, graffiti of all kinds. Not that some threatening phone calls didn’t come to Sakti. But he is a rooted Brahmapuria and it is not easy to bully him or scuttle his mission. The journey has started, unstoppable and unfailing!
Urban development in Odisha needs support from civil society groups or organisations. We are aware of the stupor that the social sector (the formal NGO sector) in Odisha is in. All the development works, comprehensively, is planned and undertaken by the governments, both the central government and the state government. TCC is an example of what city dwellers can do to their own habitations. TCC, knowingly or unknowingly, is exemplifying an ideal PPPP – Public Private People Partnership.
Brahmapur possesses that indomitable X factor – silent, effectuator.
Team Clean City, its time you proliferate in other geographies.
For Sakti and team, there is an apt line for you :
If I could, I would always work in silence and obscurity and let my efforts be known by their results.
This article had been published earlier elsewhere. It has been republished here with some modifications with the author’s consent.
