Mann Ki Baat @100: 'Almost Gave Up before PM Modi's Mention,' Pradeep Sangwan on 'Healing Himalayas' Project

He wanted to clean the Himalayas but was almost set to give up on his dreams. But a mention in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio show ‘Mann ki Baat’ changed the course of Pradeep Sangwan’s ‘Healing Himalayas Foundation’. Check live updates here

On the 100th episode of the monthly radio programme, PM Modi again talked to Sangwan on his venture.

“You thought of healing the Himalayas. How is your campaign going nowadays?” asked Modi, to which Sangwan replied that it was going great and since 2020, the quantum of work the quantum of work the foundation was able to complete in five years got completed in just one year.

Pradeep Sangwan founded the Healing Himalayas Foundation about seven years ago, on a mission to clear the Himalayas of the waste left behind by tourists. His foundation has set up five material recovery facilities in Himachal Pradesh for the mission, as per a PTI report.

“We were nervous in the beginning and were afraid of whether we would be able to sustain this operation but have received a lot of support. We had been struggling a lot till 2020 too, there were not many who were able to support our campaign. However, after we received mention in 2020’s Mann ki Baat things changed for us. Earlier, we were only able to carry out 6-7 cleaning drives a year but now we collect 5 tonne garbage daily from different locations in the Himalayas,” Sangwan told Modi in the Mann ki Baat episode.

“Before we got a mention in your radio show, believe me, I was seriously contemplating giving up, but things turned around after that and I am really thankful. I don’t know how you find people like me from remote areas,” Sangwan added.

PM Modi thanked his effort, saying that it was because of the efforts of people like him that “waste is also wealth” was being understood by the public.

About Sangwan’s Foundation Healing Himalayas

Sangwan told PTI in an earlier report that the projects of his foundation, which sustain on voluntary donations, are focused on clean-up drives, waste management and other activities in the rural Himalayan region.

Each December, Sangwan prepares a calendar for the following year and volunteers align their trips accordingly.

“While going up for a trek, we collect all trash. Mainly, we find plastic bottles, multi-layer packaging plastic waste, and then we store it at one location on the route. While returning, we bring it back to the base village and transport it to the nearest facility,” he had told PTI.

Sangwan told PTI in 2022 that while doing his graduation from Chandigarh’s DAV College, he came in contact with some students from Himachal Pradesh, with whom he started to explore the state in 2007-08.

After moving to the state in 2009, he undertook extensive travelling and during that he met a group of people from the “gaddi” (shepherd) community in Lahaul. He was impressed how, even in a very remote area, they cared so much for their environment.

His foundation set up its first waste collection and sorting unit two years ago in Rakcham near Chitkul of Kullu district followed by other four facilities in Mansari (Kullu), Pooh (Kinnaur), Tabo (Spiti) and Narkanda (Shimla).

With inputs from PTI

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