"We will never let tourism affect our mountains. We will work hard," says Dinesh Ground Manager of TTH. He is also the President of Sewaro Youth Club, which has taken the responsibility of keeping Goechala clean and green. The club members along with the TTH team undertook an initiative on 5th-8th June to clean the Goechala Trail.

"We have aggregated 50 sacks of garbage from all the campsites of Goechala trek. Our team of 13 members went up to Samiti Lake and brought down all the waste," iterates Dinesh. The cleaning team also included 5 female members. The club has young girls and boys who are residents of Yuksom and nearby villages. All of the members enthusiastically organize cleaning drives in their villages too. They consciously clean after funfair or public events to remove the waste that lasts forever otherwise.

"The garbage mainly consists of silver foil, bottles of coke, a lot of plastic, and wrappers. These are dumped when trekkers eat their food and throw away the packaging. They are tired and sometimes reluctant to pick up the plastic. Season after season the garbage gets accumulated and becomes a dumping point. Tshoka, Thansing having the most lump of waste, Dzongri, and Phedang campsites are not behind."

Despite spreading awareness trekkers are not cautious. "This is the side effect of oblivious tourists. Our mountains will be harmed if we don't take any actions soon. We are happy that trekking has brought work and money, especially to remote habitats. We do not want to ruin that. If the garbage gets mounted, we are afraid that the trek may get closed. Therefore, we will continue cleaning...until the mountains are garbage free!" proudly concludes Dinesh.
Likewise, we will continue collaborating with such people and encouraging such team members.
#Proud_TTH_Team