Prayagraj: At a time when the tourism department is yet to start the proposed revamp work of the Bharadwaj ashram and the statue of Bharadwaj Munni installed at Balson crossing of the city, volunteers of Sri Satya Sai Samiti of Prayagraj continue to keep their commitment of cleaning the grand statue and its surroundings, on every second Sunday.
The volunteers belonging to all age groups–from 10-year-old Naivedya Sinha (a Class 4 student) to 82-year-old CL Sahu–, have been doing this noble work uninterruptedly for the past three years.
Not only this, the samiti has installed and is maintaining a water kiosk near the statue, considered to be one of the major attractions of the Sangam City. The kiosk, which is one of the nine such water kiosks installed by the samiti in the city, provides cool water to the commuters in the scorching heat.
“The water kiosks installed and maintained by the samiti, apart from the one at Bharadwaj Ashram, are installed at Prayagraj Junction (platform number 6), Shankar Viman Mandapam (near Sangam), Alopibagh Chungi, Georgetown locality, PD Tandon Park (near civil lines bus stand), Ashok Nagar and Manmohan park”, informed Samiti district president Anupam Dikshit.
During early hours of every second Sunday, around a dozen volunteers of the samiti arrive at the statue, carrying brooms, shovels, cleaning equipment etc and spend around two hours cleaning the statue and removing the unwanted weeds and shrubs that grow in the mini garden around the magnificent statue.
Among the volunteers, one can spot 76 year-year old devotee of Sri Satya Sai Gopal Tiwari, who despite having both his knees operated, cleans the place with equal dedication as does 58-year old additional chief standing counsel of the state at Allahabad High Court, Akhileshwar Singh. While Sujoy Chaterjee takes up the extensive cleaning of the water kiosk, 25-year old Saurav Kamal cleans the garden area with the shovel.
“We are least bothered about what the government plans to do or when the premises of the statue will be repaired. For us, Bhagwan Sri Satya baba is the one who was born in the gotra of Bharadwaj Rishi and thus this place is very sacred for us and it is our moral responsibility to keep it clean”, said Akhileshwar Singh, while talking to TOI.
The volunteers belonging to all age groups–from 10-year-old Naivedya Sinha (a Class 4 student) to 82-year-old CL Sahu–, have been doing this noble work uninterruptedly for the past three years.
Not only this, the samiti has installed and is maintaining a water kiosk near the statue, considered to be one of the major attractions of the Sangam City. The kiosk, which is one of the nine such water kiosks installed by the samiti in the city, provides cool water to the commuters in the scorching heat.
“The water kiosks installed and maintained by the samiti, apart from the one at Bharadwaj Ashram, are installed at Prayagraj Junction (platform number 6), Shankar Viman Mandapam (near Sangam), Alopibagh Chungi, Georgetown locality, PD Tandon Park (near civil lines bus stand), Ashok Nagar and Manmohan park”, informed Samiti district president Anupam Dikshit.
During early hours of every second Sunday, around a dozen volunteers of the samiti arrive at the statue, carrying brooms, shovels, cleaning equipment etc and spend around two hours cleaning the statue and removing the unwanted weeds and shrubs that grow in the mini garden around the magnificent statue.
Among the volunteers, one can spot 76 year-year old devotee of Sri Satya Sai Gopal Tiwari, who despite having both his knees operated, cleans the place with equal dedication as does 58-year old additional chief standing counsel of the state at Allahabad High Court, Akhileshwar Singh. While Sujoy Chaterjee takes up the extensive cleaning of the water kiosk, 25-year old Saurav Kamal cleans the garden area with the shovel.
“We are least bothered about what the government plans to do or when the premises of the statue will be repaired. For us, Bhagwan Sri Satya baba is the one who was born in the gotra of Bharadwaj Rishi and thus this place is very sacred for us and it is our moral responsibility to keep it clean”, said Akhileshwar Singh, while talking to TOI.