Sanitation worker recreates old songs for anti-trash campaign in Pune

Pune: Pune-based sanitation worker Mahadev Jadhav's unique style of parodying old Bollywood songs to discourage citizens from dumping garbage in public is earning him kudos on social media. The idea to recreate the old songs struck the 57-year-old employee of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) when he saw some "educated people" throwing plastic bags containing trash on roads in Parvati area while going for a morning walk.

"Since I have a penchant for singing and writing poems, I have been using the same interest to create awareness regarding waste management and segregation of dry and wet garbage at source, and discouraging people from dumping garbage in public," said Jadhav, who is attached to Waste Management department.

Videos of Jadhav holding people's attention by singing while sweeping the streets have gone viral on social media. Recalling his experience, Jadhav said one morning he saw well-to-do people dumping garbage on roadside while out for a morning walk. "Annoyed by their attitude, I decided to create awareness about the ill practice through singing. I twisted the classic Hindi song 'Kajra Mohabbat Wala' into 'Kachara Sookha aur Geela, sabne mila kar dala, kachare ne leli sabki jaan re, gaur se suniye mehereban..'," he said. A key member of a PMC cultural group, Jadhav and his like-minded colleagues visit schools, colleges as well as housing societies where they perform skits and sing songs on the importance of waste management.

Taking the 'Kajra Mohabbatwala..." theme forward, Jadhav adds, "'Carry bag ye plastic wala, isko aadat kar dala, aadat ne le li sabki jaan, gaur se suniye mehereban' (the habit of using carry bag has killed us)". Jadhav claimed he was getting invitations from residential societies who want him to create awareness among the residents about waste management through his unique style. Jadhav's senior Dnyaneshwar Molak, who heads the PMC's waste management department, said the former turned a social cause into a personal mission, which is a matter of pride.

"We are planning to appoint him as our cleanliness brand ambassador for the Central government's cleanliness survey, to be conducted by the civic body," he added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appealed people in the past to stop using plastic to take care of environment. The PM had himself collected garbage at Mamallapuram beach during morning walk last month.