Monday, 06 June 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
Doon based student activist group, Making a Difference by Being the Difference (MAD) was joined by director general of police Ashok Kumar as the student group celebrated the inauguration of the three-day Madathon festival- the group’s annual feature event held on its foundation day to generate awareness to rejuvenate drying streams of Doon valley.
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also recorded a special message for team MAD which was shared with all participants on the occasion, which also coincided with world environment day.
Beating all previous records around 5,000 runners turned up for the eight kilometre circular route beginning from Pavillion Ground. Only steel glasses were used at all water filling stations along the route of ther run. Pursining its agenda to celebrate Madathon as a zero-waste event, the organisation took special care to ensure that not even a single plastic flex is printed for the event. All promotional material was prepared on canvas cloth, chart papers and some others using scrap and waste material. This approach was coupled by a conscious decision to completely shun plastic.
When the run concluded, MAD members distributed refreshments that had been prepared by the members themselves. This was in accordance with MAD’s declared ideal of pocket money driven activism. MAD members also ensured that after the event the Pavillion Ground was left clean. Hundreds of individuals specially registered with MAD to join their weekly activities.
At the end of the race, the winner of this eco friendly endeavour in the male category was Ankush followed by Pankaj Khatri and Dinesh Chandra in the second and third positions respectively. The winner in the female category was Gauri Kothiyal followed by Arpita Saini and Radha in the second and third positions respectively.
MAD members hope that after a successful start more Doonites would turn up for the other events of Madathon 2022 which include a cultural evening at Colonel Brown Cambridge School and an art competition at Doon International School among others. Those present in the run included founder Abhijay Negi, Swati Singh, Karan Kapoor, Satvik Nijhon, Shardul Aswal, Shilpi and Asmita Pant among others.
