Volunteers gather to clean Gomti river,conduct community reading session

Lucknow: People gathered for a community reading and cleaned the Gomti river, a drive organised by Go For Gomti and Koshala Reading Renaissance at Kudia Ghat on Sunday.

Wearing plastic gloves, boots, and carrying cleaning equipment in hand, volunteers gathered to clean the Gomti. The volunteers of the Go For Gomti cleanliness drive remove garbage from the Gomti on different banks each Sunday. "This is our 127th drive, which started in 2023, and every Sunday we gather to remove waste from the river. To date, we have taken out approximately 35 tonnes of garbage, including cans, plastic bottles, polythene bags, shoes, slippers, and glass bottles," said Prateek Bharadwaj, a volunteer.

Deepak, another volunteer, said, "I feel it's my duty to keep the river clean, which flows in my city, and I believe through this initiative more people will get encouraged and join us to keep our Gomti free from waste."

In the cool morning breeze, facing the sun and listening to the chatter of birds, around 50 members of the Koshala Reading Renaissance, a book club, gathered and started reading their favourite genres on the banks of the river.

A member, Ghazala Rizvi, said, "A few months back, I started coming here and reading. Reading along with other members became joyful and also connected me to nature." Another reader, Vinky Gautam, who was seen reading a psychological classic, said, "Specifically reading along with other members is fun, and also I got to know many other genres as well." The founder of Koshala Reading Renaissance, Prashant Singh, said, "In the age of reels and OTT platforms, people have forgotten to read books, especially the younger generation. Books are where real wisdom lies, so it's an initiative to bring people back to reading."