Year after year, pollution levels in the city is increasing, water bodies are turning into garbage dumps and birds are nowhere to be seen in this concrete jungle. While many opt to buy pollution masks, blame authorities and engage in social discussions about the changing climate, there are a handful of people in Noida and Greater Noida who have taken the charge and are trying their best to improve the environment. Here are some Noidawallahs, whose initiatives are trying to bring down pollution, one step at a time.It has been a traditional practice in Indian households to exchange old newspapers for some cash. In this simple daily life activity, Sudha Singh, a resident of Sector 119, saw an opportunity to make the environment greener. She started the initiative of taking old newspapers from people in exchange of plants. Going a step forward, Singh has now started the same initiative with plastic items as well. “Starting this January, we have begun recycling and managing plastic waste as well,” says Singh. Waste Roots has tied up with a recycling plant in Bawana, Delhi, where all the plastic waste collected in exchange for plants is segregated, recycled and managed.Vikrant Tongad, a resident of Kheri Bhanauta Village of Greater Noida, started the initiative of making birdhouses by involving children from local villages and schools. “As the green cover in the city is reducing, birds in the city do not get the raw material like twigs and dried leaves to make their nests. To help them out, we started the initiative of making bird houses for these birds in 2017,” says Tongad, Founder, Social Action for Forest and Environment (SAFE). “We involve schoolchildren and kids from nearby villages to create awareness regarding environment protection. Also, it generates interest among them since it is a fun activity. Till now, we have made over 100 bird houses and placed them in nearby parks and forests,” says Tongad. He adds that the initiative has been successful as after a fortnight, birds start using the birdhouse and have been laying eggs and living there.A poet and writer by profession, Om Raizada has started the mission to plant one lakh trees in Gautam Buddh Nagar. He started the initiative in June 2018 and has managed to plant 8,000 plants till now. “It is my mission to plant one lakh trees in the district. The only challenge I am facing right now is the lack of good space that can nurture a plant and let it grow into a tree. I do not prefer to plant saplings just anywhere because I want them to have 100 % growth rate and don’t want them to die,” says Raizada, a resident of Sector P3, Greater Noida. Raizada only plants trees in confined spaces where neighbouring people can take care of the plant. The species of plants planted include Neem, Pilkhan, Banyan and Peepal. “These big trees are helpful for birds to make their nests in. Up till now I have planted around 6,000 trees in Knowledge Park, Sector P3 and Army Welfare Housing Organisation Township,” says Raizada.A civil engineer by profession, Noida resident Amit Kumar has used his engineering skills to create an artificial recharge system to rejuvenate ground water in Greater Noida. According to Uttar Pradesh Ground Water Department’s 2018 report, ground water in Greater Noida is depleting at the rate of 1 meter per annum. “I started the initiative last year and have installed 10 such structures in various villages of Greater Noida,” says Kumar, a resident of Sector 63, adding, “We have been monitoring the levels and in the past one year, the water level in Bisrakh Village has now increased from 50ft below the ground to 40ft.”Apart from this, he has also designed an intercepting chamber, which is put up at the inlet points of local water bodies and cleans any garbage which may be getting into the pond. The filters have been put in ponds in Roja Yakubpur Village and Jalpura Village, which will prevent further waste from getting dumped in them. To clean the ponds from existing waste, Kumar and local villagers are de-weeding the pond.Who would have thought that a selfie could help with a social initiative? Well, this Greater Noida resident did, and has even managed to mobilize hundreds of locals to work towards reviving of local water bodies of their villages. With the hashtag – #Selfie_With_Pond – Ramveer Tanwar, a resident of Dadha Village, has started an awareness drive urging people to clean up the local water bodies in their region. Though Tanwar’s work for conservation of water bodies in the city started over six years ago in 2013, he is today responsible for reviving ten lakes in Gautam Buddh Nagar. “We started by reviving the pond in Dabra Village, which had been turned into a dumping yard. However, with the help of locals we cleant it and also planted saplings on the periphery of the pond to rejuvenate the ecosystem there,” says Tanwar, an engineer by profession. Similarly, ponds in Ulipura Village, Salempur Village and Nain Kheri Village have also been revived by Tanwar.

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