Online drive for St Xavier's girl gathers speed

The online campaign to protest against the civic body's callousness in not trimming dangerous trees gained even more momentum on Day 2 of the campaign, with the number of members going up to 255.

The online campaign to protest against the civic body's callousness in not trimming dangerous trees gained even more momentum on Day 2 of the campaign, with the number of members going up to 255.

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Hindustan Times had, on August 17, reported how Antara Telang's friends were launching a campaign against the BMC's negligence after a dangerously hanging branch of a tree cost Antara, a St Xavier's student, her right leg. It had to be amputated after a falling branch on July 24 crushed that leg, while leaving her left leg fractured.

Bringing together many strangers, the online movement, carried out mainly on social networking site, Facebook, has also exhorted Antara's friends to reach out to more people through the campaign.

One such campaigner, Sunder Gupta, suggested that the campaign also focus on having more alert and proactive citizens, to prevent such accidents. “We can't depend on BMC totally. I think local residents are also to be blamed. We are all aware of BMC's laziness. It is our job to bring such issues in our respective localities to their notice and get the work done.”

Sadia Nazar, 19, one of Antara's close friends who has been spearheading the campaign, said, “It's heartening to see that along with people who know Antara, there have also been complete strangers who've come forward and supported the cause. Some have even given us suggestions on how to take the movement ahead.”

The campaigners are now planning the next step of the movement. “We are weighing our options carefully and will launch the next phase of the movement soon. Till then, we hope to get more people to join the movement and ensure that such an incident never happens again,” Sadia said.