Gokul Nagar Welfare Society, Tarnaka, Secunderabad

G. Jagadeswara Rao  

In my last Status Report I detailed the struggles and efforts made by the Gokulnagar Welfare Society to evict encroachers from open space and to develop into a playground.  The following photographs depict the picture when the open space was under encroachers and after transformation into a beautiful playground.

The untiring efforts of the Society continued to improve the living conditions in the colony. The colony park is now renovated and a new lawn and several more plants have been added. A walkway is to be laid as the old walkway is worn out.

Replacing drinking water pipelines with higher diameter pipeline to improve water supply is in an advanced stage and may be completed this year.

To commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Society conducted Elocution Competition to the school going children on “ Gandhiji and Freedom Struggle”, and Quiz Competition to all residents of the Colony on Gandhiji’s Life, Indian culture and history. Many children and residents have participated with enthusiasm and won prizes.

Improvement in Voting

To encourage our residents in participating in the voting to the Assembly Elections, we announced five prizes and awarded prizes to (i) first-time voter (Boys). (ii) First time Voter (Girls), (iii) Senior Citizen (Men), (iv) Senior Citizen (Women) and (v) Beautiful Family. Residents have participated in this competition in large numbers. We have also helped the residents by supplying forms for registration as voter, submitted duly filled-in application and helped in enrolling in the voters’ list. On the day of the election both for Assembly and Parliament, one person dedicated all his time in identifying the Polling Booth Number and Serial Number in the Voters’ List for the people who were not served with voter slips. These measures have yielded in increasing the percentage of voting in the Colony.

Child labour-free Colony

We declared our colony as child labour free colony and after due verification is recognized as Child Labor Free colony by MV Foundation in collaboration with the Department of Labor, Telangana State

Annual Day

January 26 is a very important day to the residents of the society, In the morning the day is celebrated as Republic Day and in the evening it is annual day. Annual day is celebrated in grandeur. The following pictures show performances by our children and participants in the cultural activities on our annual day.



Clean and Green Colony

The endeavour of society is to keep the colony clean and green. In this direction, the Society has organized Swachh Rally in the colony in association with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), reinvigorated water harvesting pits before the onset of monsoon and planted trees during this monsoon.

Swachh citizen’s Charter

The Society has formulated a citizen’s charter to keep the environment clean and this formulation is handed over to the Deputy Commissioner of GHMC. We understand that the Hindi translation of this charter has reached the PMO’s office. For the benefit of readers, the contents of charter are furnished hereunder.

RWA Charter for Swatch Bharat

1. In each RWA general body meeting, there should be an item in the agenda to review the good practices adopted on clean habits, personal hygiene, greenery within the house or outside and environmental sanitation.


2. Every resident should commit himself or herself to devote 2 hours in a week to attend to environmental cleanliness, individually or collectively.


3. Appeal to all residents to cultivate the habit of not throwing anything on the floor but only in the dustbin, not to spit, not to urinate everywhere, not to make noises and not to stock unnecessary old things, etc...


4. Weekly visit by the RWA office-bearers to the buildings, offices, shops, schools, hospitals, religious places, bus-stops, cinema halls, function halls, parking areas, parks, playgrounds, vacant sites or lands, tank-bunds or river bodies in the area in and around the RWA in order to remove plastic, electronic waste, construction debris, and other unnecessary materials lying there; and to see that those Agencies which are in charge are helped to discharge their duties thoroughly.


5. Negotiate with the local private sector undertakings to take up some sponsored activities, such as, providing dustbins, picking, removing and cleaning tools, detergents, dresses, gloves, shoes, etc., including providing new long brooms that are safe for the lungs and the backbone of the sweeper, etc.;.


6. Sensitize, particularly, the low-income areas or slums who are the first victims of pollution to keep their area clean and green.


7. A weekly visit to the open or closed sewerage channels or pipes and the rain or stormwater draining canals, so as to alert the municipal staff in case of obstacles to their free-flow’.


8. Explore the sources of seasonal waves of mosquitoes and plan to clear weeds or plastic materials from the nearby stagnant waters.


9. Ensure that the tankers or the pipes carrying the drinking water and the sewerage do not have leakages; Periodical testing of the quality of the drinking water at the receiving end.


10. Identifying dry places for placing the dry and wet dustbins, and if necessary, some transit dumping yards, and arrange for their collection, lifting and maintenance on payment.


11. Setting up and maintaining regularly, rainwater harvesting pits and recycling arrangements.


12. While managing the urban waste, a part of the garbage to be retained within the house, part of it in common pits within the area, part of it to the rag-pickers and the rest to be shifted to the municipal vehicles; and to ensure hygienic dust-bins, lifting and transportation.


13. Discarding, totally, manual disposal of excrements by scavengers.


14. Promoting more knowledge about the effects of chemicals that are being used for various purposes and reduce their wastage, particularly, by the housewives, domestic helpers and watchmen.


15. Promoting the use of protective devices for legs, hands, fingers, nails, nose, eyes, lungs, etc. by all those who are involved in cleaning inside the house as well as in the surroundings.


16. To ensure clean toilets and provision for other sanitary needs in the neighbouring schools.


17. In cooperation with the urban horticultural officers, to put short and bushy semi-arid plants and trees in all open common places and parks and to ensure its maintenance; in all private places, the compound walls and some walls can be green with creeper species and the apartments can have hanging varieties.


18. Each resident to ensure that in his or her native village, there are private and public toilets in order to avoid open defecation.


19. Individually, to make it a habit to visit the internet, social media (mygov.in; clean India website, Facebook, twitter, etc. in order to follow the developments.


20. Keep a list of names, telephone, What App numbers of local staff and officers of the municipality who are responsible for execution and for supervision, so as to send them the complaint and the spot photos by smartphone; Also of higher officers who can take, immediate action on our complaints, against the defaulting local staff.