Green Couple…….Nitya Kaushik
City Dwellers, who believe cleaning their neighbourhood is an impossible task— thanks to civic apathy and “lack of political will”— can learn from Kandivli-based Afzal (50) and wife Nusrat Khatri (60). For the past 10 years, they have been turning their once-filthy locality into a green haven —not by throwing money or weight around, but by getting down to work.
“You don’t need to be part of an NGO nor do you need influence or money. When you want to give something to the earth, the entire universe comes together to make it happen. We realised how true this is when we began cleaning up the gully outside our building years ago. Till date, we have not faced any bad experience from our local ward office or police or political parties. Instead, we have received help from the most unexpected quarters with no strings attached,” said Nusrat.
The couple, who was in the US and doing well in business, had decided to retire to Mumbai around 13 years ago, after getting a strong urge to “give something back to their country”. Their college-going daughter also returned to join them. Back home, however, the family was taken aback to see the environment around their housing colony. “We live in a society with all modern amenities. But the moment we stepped outside the compound, we are exposed to bad roads, gutters, debris and piles of solid waste. Since we were not used to such disarray on roads abroad, the sight shocked us,” said the duo.
Their attempt to get a pile of debris —left outside their building after the completion a road-digging project— removed gave them a glimpse into official lethargy. For days, they were shunted around from one agency to the other. But, unlike most others, they refused to give up.
Instead, they told the ward officials that they would personally gather all the debris and make small mounds; the BMC could then send a truck. “The ward officer was shocked. He asked me if we would really do it, and I said ‘yes’. There was a minute of silence and then he agreed. The filth was removed and the ward officer thanked us for the help. We have never faced any problems with the officials since,” Nusrat said.
Their newest project is turning one-and-a-half acre wasteland behind the Samta Nagar police station into a green patch. The land, which was being used to dump garbage for years, once housed all types of waste including broken liquor bottles, burnt tyres and other non-degradable materials. Today, it is a green haven called Dev Park, complete with a lotus pond, trees and several varieties of flowering plants and herbs. “Interesting, we didn’t spend any money to make it happen. All the materials required came out of contribution and goodwill. People who would see us at work told us they’d like to volunteer or contribute. Now, we have made composting pits around the garden. All canteen waste from the police station is used for making manure.”
To gain expertise in composting, Afzal spent days reading books and attending workshops. Nusrat, on the other hand, did a course in horticulture under Avinash Kubal of Maharashtra Nature Park.
The couple is now busy with several projects, which they are doing free of cost. Among them is a project to plant a variety of trees in a BMC-owned land near the R-south ward office and another in town.