From a supersonic fighter pilot’s wife to a Baba Amteinspired life of self-help, from being the first lady of Goa’s Naval hierarchyto being an incognito face of change in Vasco, Alka Damle defies definition.She prides in being called a young senior citizen yet has transformed Vasco andits’ suburbs littered landscape into one of the finest examples of individualentrepreneurship.
“People associate garbage with population. But, when I was inChina, I was surprised to see the level of cleanliness. I wished how mycountry, my neighbourhood could be as spick and span as developed nations”,wished Alka Damle. Two years later, her individual but seemingly small effortshave brought in winds of change where Port Town’s local self-government andeven taluka administration has failed. In this year’s Ganesh Chovthcelebration, the picturesque Vaddem Lake remained clean as people deposited theflowers and other offerings to Damle’s group that ensured that the pristinelake remained clean.
What sets Alka Damle apart is the fact that she has no NGO.“I found that Vasco alone has over 80 NGOs and I wondered, where are they?” askedDamle when she went about launching cleaning drives. Her first call for cleaningup the city in June 2011 at Municipal building’s Janata Vachanalaya surprisedher. Over 100 citizens turned up. “We shall not blame anyone for roads and ourneighbourhoods being clean. Let us take charge” said Alka. The spirit emulatedtime and again. Even when the local Council did not support their initiatives,Alka led from the front, sometimes leading a group of 100 and sometimes justfour five people. Sweeping marketplaces, scrubbing spits from the wall, peelingoff unused old posters and even removing used and dated banners hanging fromtree tops. “Cleaning up the neighbourhood is a continuous process” says Alka.Vasco swears by her.
But cleaning up Vasco is not the only thing that Alka made amark with. Late last year, she single handedly got a section of people in Vascoto send across 300 kilos of cotton yarn and clothes to Maoist infestedGadhchiroli, for tribal women who did not have access to sanitary napkins. Amusical charity show by deaf, dumb and physically challenged is up next. ForAlka, the transition from being the queen bee of Naval wives who built Goa’sonly school for household help, to being the friendly neighbourhood dust buster,is all in day’s work.
