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Ladakh village shines in ‘Swachh Bharat’

Nestled between the mighty Karakoram and Himalayan mountain ranges lies Turtuk, a remote village, sparsely inhabited, and close to the Line of Control.From this village, the Pakistani posts are clearly visible. This remote outpost of India has now become a shining example of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The villagers see this not only as a […]

Nestled between the mighty Karakoram and Himalayan mountain ranges lies Turtuk, a remote village, sparsely inhabited, and close to the Line of Control.
From this village, the Pakistani posts are clearly visible. This remote outpost of India has now become a shining example of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The villagers see this not only as a Cleanliness campaign but also one which integrates them with the rest of India. For the villagers, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is not just a campaign, but they see it as a medium to integrate them with the rest of India.
Tourism to this remote outpost of India opened in 2010, after that the village started getting plastic waste and other pollutants
Realising that their fragile relationship with the environment was at stake the local people took it upon themselves to implement the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in the most remote part of the Nation.
The tourism season in Turtuk commenced largely between April to September and this year it witnessed a large number of visitors from across the country and even from outside the country as it was opened after two years of the pandemic.
Notwithstanding the boost to the economy of Turtuk from tourism, the plastic and other non-biodegradable waste accumulation was significantly high. Therefore, keeping environmental concerns in mind the owner of a local guest house Hashmat-ullah and Ms Portia Conrad, a research scholar from New Delhi took the initiative of curating a cleanliness drive in Turtuk village.
Conrad was visiting Turtuk for an ongoing research project on the Balti community. School children of government schools and Turtuk Valley School also participated in the initiative.
Despite being a holiday and slated exams, 75-plus children gathered to collect gar-bage on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. All the students were provided with masks before the drive and posters were made together for awareness amongst the villagers.

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