Hyderabad: Water conservation rally marks Martyrs' Day

Rajendranagar: On the occasion of death anniversary of Father of nation Mahatma Gandhi, the Confederation of Voluntary Organisations (COVA) took up a campaign to bring about awareness on water conservation, ahead of another hot summer this year.

COVA, in association with Sarvodaya International Trust, CII, Young Indians and Indian Women Network, organised a programme with a theme, 'Martyrs Day – Homage to Mahatma: Our pledge to conserve water,' at Anmol Garden, Chandrayangutta, and two other locations simultaneously. Students of several schools took pledge to work for conservation of water in the presence of dignitaries and officials.

After observing two minute silence to pay homage to Gandhiji in Anmol Garden Functional Hall at Bandlaguda, the school students took out a rally through different routes in the area in order to drag the attention of people towards the importance of preserving the water from getting waste.

"The awareness programme was kicked off as part of the 150th centenary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi amplified by Jai Jagat Programme that involves a year-long march to propagate the life and teachings of Gandhi. The march started on October 2, 2019 at Raj Ghat, New Delhi, and after going through 20 countries of Asia and Europe, will conclude in Geneva on October 2, 2020 where over 5,000 people from across the world are expected to congregate to celebrate Gandhiji birth anniversary," said Mazher Hussain, the executive director COVA.

In Hyderabad, the programme was simultaneously organised at three locations such as Anmol Garden, Bandlaguda, Urdu Ghar Moghalpura and Boys Town High School, Jahanuma. HMWS&SB Director A Krishna was the chief guest at Anmol Gardens function, while other chief guests were Prof Tahseen Sultana of SCERT at Urdu Ghar, Moghalpura, and Rakesh Surana of Young Indians at Boys Town High School, Jahanuma. Dr Mazher Hussain of COVA, Brother Thomas of Boys Town and Gulam Mohammed of NOVA Pharmaceuticals presided over these three programmes.

Students of various schools took part in the awareness rally holding placards with massages to use water diligently in order to preserve the aqua. Later on, they carried out door-to-door campaign to inform people of the severity of the water scarcity and the necessity to preserve it from getting waste.

All the dignitaries and officials who addressed the gatherings recalled the services of Mahatma Gandhi for the nation and underlined the need to conserve water for the sake of human survival. They all, in unison, expressed that the best homage to Gandhi was to take and practise the pledge diligent use of water and encourage others to conserve the aqua.

Representatives from corporate sector such as Anand Daga, Rakesh Surana, Veerel Surana, Sharath Chowdhary and Jyothi Gosala, beside educationists Brother KM Joseph and Muneeruddin Mujahid turned up for the event. HMWS&SB General Managers Khader Mohiuddin and Nagender Kumar also took part in the program.

Teachers from different schools along with 75 volunteers of Young Indians, Badruka College, Bhavans College, Roda Mistry College, MANUU and St Ann's College, Mehdipatnam, participated in the rallies. Naseer Siddiqui, Leslie Martin and Fatima Begum proposed vote of thanks at the programmes.