NGO

garbage

Anandwadi waterfall

Neral

Jummapati

Tapalwadi

Vinchoti

Pandavkada

Zenith waterfalls

As 90% were alcohol bottles,calls for liquor ban at tourist spots.The long weekend took a heavy toll on popular tourist spots, with tonnes ofincluding wrappers, alcohol bottles left strewn around, completely trashing the places. An NGO took it upon itself to rid Mother Nature or this man-made litter disaster.Members of the Environment Life NGO cleaned almost 600 kg of trash from thein. It took 45 volunteers all day to clean the area surrounding the waterfall.According to volunteers, a major portion of the garbage was constituted by liquor bottles prompting the NGO to demand a liquor ban near all tourist spots.Neral’s Anandwadi waterfall is located a half hour’s walk away from station. It attracts a lot of visitors in monsoon, given its proximity to the city and easy accessibility by public transport. Like every other tourist spot in India, this place also gets strewn with trash, much to the dismay of local villagersDharmesh Barai, member of EL said, “It is clear that the government is not providing adequate dustbins at these places. There are no toilets, changing rooms or first aid kits.”The NGO has cleaned up Bhivpuri, Kondeshwar,and disposed of about five tonnes of garbage till date.After government’s lackadaisical attitude, locals have taken it upon themselves to take care of their surroundings. Madhukar Patil of Anandwadi said, “Monsoon is rice sowing season for us due to which we can’t pay attention to the tourists. They come and strew the place with trash. The waterfall area is out of the village and therefore comes under the Forest department. They should provide dustbins here. We want the police to increase patrolling to prevent drinking as well.”