New Delhi: Maharashtra Housing Ministry has honoured 17-year-old Sanjana Runwal from Mumbai for her research paper on ‘Affordable Housing Solutions for Garbage Workers’ of the city. The state government lauded Sanjana for her exemplary and thought-provoking work which can play a huge role in solving housing problems while framing policies by the state for the welfare of Garbage workers.
Dr. Jitendra Awhad, Minister of Housing, Maharashtra State awarded Sanjana, who is also the founder of the NGO - Clean Up Foundation, with a letter of appreciation and congratulated on her commendable work, wished her success in her future endeavours to bring a positive change in the society.
Dr Ahwad further said that Sanjana is very passionate about her work and wished to contribute something to the garbage workers. The government lauded her efforts for overcoming all the obstacles that came her way especially the non-availability of secondary research on garbage workers and ragpickers and still being able to successfully conduct primary research on this field.
Commenting on the prestigious moment, Sanjana Runwal said, ‘’It is an honour to have received this prestigious ‘Letter of Appreciation’ for my research from the Honourable Minister for Housing. Our aim is to improve the living conditions of the garbage cleaners and rag pickers and housing for them is a problem that needs urgent attention. The objective behind the research is to provide recommendations for affordable housing that shall address their problem of housing ownership. With the support from the Government, I am sure that we will be able to provide a solution in near future.’’
Sanjana started contributing to society at a very young age and indulged herself in uplifting the lives of ragpickers and garbage workers. She has done a significant amount of social work in this field through her NGO-Clean Up Foundation which she started in 2016. She aims towards improving the lives of rag pickers who work in subhuman conditions with very little access to any health and hygiene facilities.