ITANAGAR : More than 5,220 kg of waste was removed from the Yagamso River during a clean-up drive organised by the Youth Mission for Clean River (YMCR) and Abralow Memorial Multipurpose Society, with support from the Itanagar Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ISCDCL), at IG Park here on Saturday.

The drive was organised as part of activities commemorating the 80th Independence Day. Volunteers cleared accumulated waste that had choked the river channel, helping restore its natural flow.

The collected waste was subsequently segregated and audited to assess the nature and volume of waste entering the river. The audit recorded around 9,000 disposable plates and glasses, 8,500 cement, rice and online-delivery bags, and 8,000 plastic items, besides several other categories of waste.

The findings highlighted the extent of irresponsible waste disposal and its growing impact on the Yagamso River and its surrounding environment.

Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC) Ward No. 10 Corporator Yukar Yaro, along with her team, attended the drive and commended YMCR and its partner organisations for the initiative. She expressed concern over continued dumping of waste by individuals and urged citizens to adopt responsible waste-management practices and refrain from dumping garbage into rivers and other water bodies.

YMCR Chairman Advocate S D Loda urged volunteers to take the message of cleanliness beyond the campaign and spread it among their families and communities. He appealed to citizens to recognise their collective responsibility towards protecting rivers and the environment.

YMCR Vice Chairman Keyom Doni said the participation of volunteers reflected growing civic awareness among the youth of Itanagar. He stressed that river clean-up drives should be viewed as part of a sustained environmental campaign rather than one-time activities, adding that lasting change would require citizens to stop treating rivers as dumping grounds and instead regard them as shared resources that need protection.