Sri Vijaya Puram, Feb 15: The 5th Samir Acharya Memorial Award for the Conservation of Coastal and Island Ecosystems was today awarded to Ms. Madhuri Mondal, Social Ecologist at Bageecha, Brijgunj Chowk. The ceremony was conducted today, being the birth anniversary of Late Shri. Samir Acharya.
Samhita Veda Acharya, daughter of Samir Acharya introduced the guests to the legendary Samir Acharya’s contributions to the islands as a world-renowned environmentalist.
While Shri. Denis Giles, a close associate of Mr. Acharya walked through the achivements of Shri. Acharya and Ms. Madhuri Mondal.
This year the Ms. Madhuri was selected for the award due to her passionate work with the Wandoor Panchayat.
She has done a pioneer work in management of sanitary and menstrual waste in the islands.
Through a conservative estimate Wandoor GP generated 3750 pads every month. Madhuri and her team saw that the incinerators in Andaman for sanitary waste were non-functional and the incinerators of small capacity generate harmful gases which can lead to issues for sanitation workers. They saw reduction of menstrua waste as the only right way to move forward for our small and eco-sensitive islands. She trained her team, the Youth Ambassadors, ASHA and Anganwadi workers to talk about sustainable menstrual products in the community. In the last one and half years, the team has introduced sustainable menstrual products over 1200 women in South Andaman out of which atleast 400 women have already shifted to using sustainable menstrual products like menstrual cups, period panties and cloth pads reducing the generation of non-biodegradable sanitary napkins in our islands significantly
Samhita mentioned in her speech that menstrual waste is a topic most people avoid and consider a taboo and Ms. Madhuri being the Environmental Crusader that she is, has worked diligently in this field and brought humungous change in the environment. And this impact would reflect on future generations too.
The award was given away by Smti. Geetanjali Acharya, wife of Shri. Samir Acharya and Mrs. Pushpanjali Raju, Madam Acharya’s sister.
The guests included eminent personalities like past awardees Shri. Chanchal Singha Roy and Shri. Mohammad Hussain, along with famous press personalities Shri. Sanjib Kumar Roy and Shri. Denis Giles, in the presence of Mrs. Mitha Biswas, Shri. Anand Rao, from ANET and Shri. Farooq Alam.
The late Shri. Samir Acharya is survived by his wife Smti. Geetanjali Acharya and his daughter Samhita Veda Acharya along with his grandson Mr. Marvelous Giles.