Public Appeal from (Mrs) Shanti Varma, President, Waste Warriors Society

By Dilip -
My dear Friends,

Take a walk down a street of a town in India, and the chances are that within the first quarter mile, you will find yourself having to skirt a garbage dump: vegetable peels, half-eaten food waste, rags, plastic bags, empty foil-lined chips’ packets, thermocole containers, paper cups, dead leaves and flowers, cardboard, paper bags – all mixed together into a stinking hazardous mess that overflows the confines of its Municipal container and attracts foraging rats, stray dogs, pigs and cattle.

This, unfortunately, is India.

And this letter is addressed to all of you who cringe in shame when you see this and who feel strongly that something must be done to make a difference.

As the current President of Waste Warriors Society, a registered NGO started in November 2012, I can vouch for the fact that making a dent in resolving this near-overwhelming problem is exactly what we are trying desperately to do.  

Our Website (www.wastewarriors.org) explains our work in detail. You will see that under the leadership of our dynamic CEO-Founder, Jodie Underhill, in Dehra Dun and her colleagues at Corbett Landscape (Minakshi Pandey) and at Dharamsala, Waste Warriors is doing a truly amazing job in the area of Solid Waste Management and awareness initiatives. (And this is just the beginning; we plan to expand to other cities as our funds permit). 

We have received unstinting praise and encouragement from every quarter for the difference we have made in each of our areas of operation and we are confident that as we persevere over the ensuing years, we will be able to spread our message of civic cleanliness throughout India.

However, praise and encouragement, though heartening and most welcome, are unfortunately not enough to meet either our monthly expenses or to fund our future projects!

I am therefore taking the liberty of appealing to everyone with a developed social conscience to donate to the cause of a cleaner India, an India of which each of us can be proud.  

Please note that Waste Warriors Society has received clearance under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act; tax deduction for donations can be claimed by any taxpayer whether individual, partnership firm, company etc. As our Website points out, payments can be made directly in the name of “Waste Warriors Society” into our Current Account No: 33742176465 at State Bank of India, Jakhan Branch, Dehra Dun (IFSC Code: SBIN 0006155). 

Payments may please be made under intimation to me, to enable us to acknowledge your generosity and send you an official receipt. No amount, however modest you may feel it to be, is too small: each single rupee helps.

For those of you who live abroad, please note that since our NGO is less than three years old, we are not permitted to apply for FCRA clearance until November 2015. Needless to say, however, we would warmly welcome your contribution – so in the interim, we would be most grateful if you make your donation through an NRO rupee account in India, if possible. Thank you so much.

I look forward with great optimism to a positive response from you! We simply cannot function in a meaningful way without your support, without the involvement and commitment of all those who care. We are all citizens, we are all responsible for ensuring a cleaner India. Mahatma Gandhi most effectively points out: “No municipality can hope to solve the problem of insanitation and overpopulation of the city by merely collecting taxes and appointing safai karamcharis. This vital and much-needed reformation can come only through the complete and voluntary cooperation of all the rich and poor alike.”

Please do forward the Website details to your friends, along with my appeal letter, so as to expand our circle of potential stake-holders. We need to stand shoulder to shoulder, and we need to garner all the support we can muster. Let us stand together to truly “Bethe change we want to see in the world.”

I do look forward with keen anticipation to hearing from you.
With warm personal regards,

(Mrs) Shanti Varma
President, Waste Warriors Society:
www.wastewarriors.org
Res. Address: 170-A Rajpur Road, Dehra Dun. 248009


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