He’s on a green drive, literally

One hundred and thirty two. That’s 122 cars more than what Dinesh Kumar was to look for in his neighbourhood as part of a school project on vehicles without Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate.

One hundred and thirty two. That’s 122 cars more than what Dinesh Kumar was to look for in his neighbourhood as part of a school project on vehicles without Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate.

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“I devoted an hour daily during my summer vacation. So, instead of finding 10, I prepared a list of 132 cars,” he said. Kumar was in Class IV then.

Since then, his interest in environmental issues has grown. Kumar, now 21, is studying engineering at Bharti Vidyapeeth’s College of Engineering, and working on a carpooling portal.

“Most students drive to college. The idea is to prepare a database of students, the route they take and when they travel. Those interested in carpooling can get in touch with those who take the same route at the same time,” he said talking about his portal ‘Share your wheels’. Kumar expects the portal to be online in the next couple of weeks. About 82 students have already registered with him. The idea is among the 52 entries shortlisted for the Hindustan Times – Brightest Young Climate Leaders

However, this isn’t his first initiative. Over the last eight months, he has worked on sensitising people on waste segregation, which could not have been possible without his “green crew”, a group of eight like-minded friends he found through Facebook.

That apart, he has also contributed content for a children’s workbook on environmental issues called Project Search. “Ten per cent of the Green House gases are due to improper waste management. We have held workshops in schools to sensitise students about how to segregate waste at the house level itself,” he said.