Udupi :  It is everyone’s dream to live in a clean and green country. However, not many contribute to keep the country clean and make it green. Working in a clean and green campus, Dr. Satheesha Nayak B, a Professor of Anatomy, at Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) is very passionate about having his surroundings clean and green. He lives in a small village called Alambi, a part of 80th Badagabettu that belongs to Udupi District.

His team comprising of his wife, Dr. Soumya KV (Associate Professor of Mathematics at Manipal Institute of Technology, MAHE), daughter, Sameeksha Nayak, Brother, Umesh Nayak B (Senior Technician at Department of Biochemistry, KMC Manipal), brother’s sons, Ankith Nayak and Amith Nayak have been working towards making their village clean and green. As a part of this mission, they have cleaned the garbage collected in many places of their village and with the help of the local Gram Panchayath, transferred it to the waste management unit. They picked the waste disposed on roadsides, in the forest close to the road and in the local rivulet, segregated it, and transported it by themselves to the nearest road so that the Garbage collecting vehicle can pick it for disposal.

The local rivulet was very clean until a bridge and a new linking road were constructed recently. After the construction of the bridge, people from other places started to bring the waste and dispose it into the rivulet from the bridge. Dr. Nayak requested the local Panchayath to take actions on those who dumped the garbage into the rivulet and in response; the Panchayath has already kept a warning banner at the bridge.
Upon their request, the local Panchayath has also arranged a vehicle to pick the waste directly from all the houses once in a week and after this, the village is clean, without any new waste appearing on the roadside.

Dr. Nayak is of the opinion that people dispose their waste into rivers and on roadside only because of not having proper garbage disposal areas and garbage collectors at the roadsides. He has urged the local Gram Panchayath to install garbage collectors at strategic places like bridges and the roads where people usually dump the waste.

Dr. Nayak and team has also planted many Jackfruit, Mango, Bilva, Drumstick and many other saplings in the surroundings. They have also planted pineapple and tapioca saplings in the nearby forest for the wild animals.

It is the duty of both local administration and the localities to join hands in keeping the surroundings clean. The Alambi model of making surroundings clean and green, if implemented everywhere; no doubt, India will be a clean and green country within a very short time.