The Yacht Club of Hyderabad celebrated its third year of success with the Monsoon Regatta — a national championship tournament for sailors across the country. And, its theme “A cleaner Hussainsagar” seems to have found great supporters in the national champions, bureaucrats, club members, and little kids who all come together to support this cause. Hussainsagar’s pristine glory has been tarnished by industrialisation and urbanisation.
Aashim Mongia, Arjuna Awardee and former Asian sailing champion in the Enterprise class, says, “The last time I sailed on the Hussainsagar, the stench was horrible. It would hang on your clothes and you could smell the lake.” But lately, Hyderabad seems to have woken up to this fact and there is now a second sewage treatment plant and five of the channels for waste treatment have been diverted.
However, the crux of the matter remains that people have to take responsibility and not leave the cleanliness only up to NGOs and the government. Sunil Kumar Gupta, member (environment), HMDA, says, “The main stakeholders responsible for its improvement should be the citizens themselves.” The club also houses 15-odd underprivileged students from government schools. Amongst them, Raghavendra, 14 and Rajnikanth, 15 have been training for the past year and have won four competitions and are national rank holders. They say, “Hussainsagar is like a mother to us. If it is clean and tidy, it will be healthy for us.”
Suheim Sheikh, founder of Yacht Club of Hyderabad, says, “It’s tough for kids to understand such issues. They throw waste, but, in time, when they experience the stink they get the point.” After three years of the Monsoon Regatta showing the way, one can see a dramatic change in the way people behave and one can hope that things get better.
