Citizen team story from Kirandul

SHARED BY SHRI T.R.PADMAKARAM, CHIEF MANAGER, KIRANDUL BRANCH(2866)

The branch did not have the legacy of participating collectively in some organised group tasks in the past and there was an urgent need for uniting them to involve in some challenging task. To start with, a thought was made to involve the branch in some community development programme for the benefit of all the staff members including the bank guards as well as the local community in general.

Strategy Adopted:

A meeting was organised and the entire staff was involved to identify an issue which has been troubling the society in general and the environment in particular. Finally it was pinned down to make a demonstration   to the society on the hazards of increased usage of polythene in the daily routine.

In order to exhibit homogeneity in the group it was decided to have some commonality in the attire to carry out this task.  It was therefore decided to prepare aprons uniformly for all the staff members including ladies with catchy slogans  and  the Bank’s Symbol.

It was collectively decided to carry out door to door campaign in small groups to educate the people of Kirandul the intricacies of this menace. The following information was shared with them along with some catchy slogans in Hindi to reach the common mass by way of handouts prepared for this occasion.

Message: What are the hazards of polythene?

Polythene is not biodegradable

• Polyethene threatens the life in the water bodies. The polyethene articles (e.g. six pack rings) affects the survival of animals the aquatic and marine eco systems.
• Polyethene is also likely to clog the drains causing problems in the water flow of the pipes. The pipe blockages would cause flooding and the free flow of water is disturbed.
• Polyethene is harmful for animals if swallowed. It can accumulate in the bowels which ultimately becomes lethal to the animal.
• In most households poly bags are used to preserve food items. Re-used bag may be contaminated by materials harmful to human health.
• They also provide breeding ground for mosquitoes that spread diseases likes dengue, malaria and others vector ailments. 
• Polythene bags are amongst major contributor to environmental pollution and related hazards. Ironically, residents did not due play their role to prevent usage of these bags.

Since NMDC works on Sundays we had chosen a national holiday i.e Republic day to carry out this project. On the previous day we displayed some posters/ hoardings at all the vital points in the town  to draw the attention of the people specially prepared for this event to depict some facts of the growing menace in this area.

Before start of the event immediately after the flag hoist we jointly resolved to discard usage of polyethylene and make increased usage of jute/ cotton bags for procurement of our daily needs from the market. Jute bags were distributed amongst the staff members to symbolise the moment in-house first.

Six small teams were prepared and localities  were designated to each team to be covered in coordination with other teams making use of mobiles to review the progress from time to time. Every staff member took this programme as a challenge and exhibited their traits to spread this common message. Almost every house in Kirandul was visited and the message spread to the residents. The movement took a final shape by meeting the General Manager of NMDC Kirandul project at his residence to give a wrap-up of the day’s event. The GM was extremely elated to know how such a great movement could be thought of and take a shape which NMDC could not think of till date. The event was highlighted in their house magazine “Baila News”. The initiative was acknowledged well by the society in general. Using this opportunity as a tool to propagate our recent initiatives especially in the alternate channels we highlighted the features of Internet Banking/ Mobile Banking/ ATM Channels etc. in the same handout for the benefit of the public in general.

The success was finally celebrated jointly by all the staff members uniting at one spot with snacks and soft drinks before bidding goodbye. Our success story was also published in the news media in almost all the local news papers.

The motive of uniting the staff members under a common banner to establish the fact that any thing is possible if the task is performed unitedly was demonstrated amidst the staff members. Apart from getting good mileage to the Bank the staff also got energised by this movement. It was a success story of this unit.

Courtesy: K Natarajn, Citizen Facilitator, SBLC, Raipur