To commemorate the 29th Birthday of Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen, volunteers across Thimphu city participated in mass cleaning campaigns. A total of 6.4 metric tons of garbage were collected during the campaign, held from 9 am- 12 noon.
The volunteers were inspired by Her Majesty Address on June 2, 2019. Her Majesty had said, “Today, let us renew our pledge to fulfil our individual duties to keep our surroundings clean and aesthetically pleasing, the benefits of which will extend to a sense of well-being and happiness that we all undoubtedly feel in beautiful spaces.”
According to Nedup Tshering of Clean Bhutan, the cleaning campaigns across Thimphu were initiated by a number of groups, as a special offering from the people on Her Majesty’s Birthday.
“Every year, representatives from various sections of the society offer birthday wishes to Her Majesty at Lingkana Palace. This year, we felt that it was time to offer something more meaningful to Her Majesty from all of us, as an expression of our gratitude to Her Majesty for all the love and support that we receive from Her Majesty in our endeavours,” he said.
The cleaning campaign was conceptualized as a suitable way to do this. “Her Majesty is very much concerned about the growing problems of garbage and waste. Finding lasting solutions to these problems is very close to Her Majesty’s heart,” said Nedup Tshering.
“Her Majesty has very clearly expressed the need for all of us to work together to address these issues. So we felt that the cleaning campaign would be a symbol of our commitment to addressing these issues together.”
With the support of the Thimphu Thromde, shopkeepers and residents along Norzin Lam participated enthusiastically in the exercise. The cleaning campaign collected 650 kilograms of garbage from along the Norzin Lam alone.
Volunteers were from Royal Institute of Management, Faculty of Nursing and Public Health, Bhutan Red Cross Society, Taxi Tshogpa, Clean Bhutan, Care Bhutan, Denkar’s Getaway, Norzin Demngo Tshogpa, Thim Throm, and shopkeepers, His Majesty’s Secretariat, National Environment Commission, Royal Society for the Protection of Nature, WWF-Bhutan, Tarayana, Aman-Kora, and Bhutan Telecom. Thimphu Taxi tshogpa has committed to adopting the clock tower area, and the responsibility of maintaining its cleanliness.
Members have also participated in an initiative to discourage littering by passengers, by recycling old uniforms to make waste bags, which are then placed in their vehicles. A group of DeSuups are organising a follow-up clean up on June 16, along the Thim Chhu and around the Thimphu Dzong and National Convention Centre area.
The organisers said that in addition to clean up campaigns, follow-up activities are being planned, inspired by Her Majesty’s messages.
During an Address on World Environment Day in 2018, Her Majesty had said: “For any initiative to be successful, dedication and consistency is essential. We must all remind ourselves that our actions on the World Environment Day should not remain symbolic, stand alone activities, but instead must be practiced every day.”
Nedup Tshering said that it was heartening to see so many independent initiatives to carry out cleaning campaigns all over Thimphu. “As Her Majesty has so eloquently said, managing our waste and creating beautiful spaces requires collective effort,” he said.
The organisers invite all the people to join in the initiative. This is their message to the people of Bhutan: “Let us celebrate Her Majesty’s Birthday by committing to maintain clean and beautiful spaces and managing our own waste smartly- not just today, but for years to come, for our future generations. This would be a wonderful offering from all of us to Her Majesty, to demonstrate that we have taken Her Majesty’s message to the people of Bhutan to heart.”
