Cleanliness Warrior – Mrs. Nasima Javid Sangre

Cleanliness Warriors, a JSW Foundation series is a collection of stories of efforts of citizens to keep the country clean and is an example of a ‘Swach Bharat’

The first story in the series is of 52 year old Mrs. Nasima Javid Sangre from Sakhar Mohalla, a village in Jaigad Maharashtra.

Shakar Mohalla is adjacent to the Arabian Sea and most of the families in the community are fishermen.

While the ocean provided the primary source of income, unfortunately the community still used the ocean as a dumping ground for waste.

Mrs. Sangre wanted to change that attitude as she believed that waste management began with each individual displayingequal responsibility towards it.

As an active member of her village’s Women Self Help Group – Mrs. Sangre always encouraged and sensitizes women from her group to follow proper waste segregation and disposal.

She took the initiative to involve the students from the village school to come forward in her mission to make her village plastic waste-free. Mrs. Sangre also worked with the JSW Foundation for assistance and support. The Foundation assured her that all the single-use plastics collected by the students will be collected for proper handling and disposal. Based on her suggestion, the Foundation also gave 500 cotton handbags to Shakar Mohalla Grampanchayat for distribution to the houses. She is personally monitoring and ensuring that families of her village segregate dry and wet waste and the dry waste reaches to the Foundation’s collection centre at Jaigad.

Her message to the people is simple that sanitation and hygiene cannot be achieved in a day. Rather should be a way of life.