WARANGAL: A ‘masked’
teddy bear
has become an unlikely mascot for the Greater
Warangal Municipal Corporation
’s fight against the
coronavirus outbreak. The giant teddy, found by a sanitation worker, has been put on a garbage truck going around the city to create more awareness on the spread of the disease.
The sight of the
teddy
comes at a time when the civic body has sealed off several areas of the city due to the increasing number of cases. Several residents have lauded this effort of the GWMC saying it is a fun way to tackle an increasingly grim scenario.
On Wednesday, Veera Swamy, a sanitation worker, found the teddy bear dumped in the garbage at Kakaji Colony in Hanamkonda.
It struck him with an idea and he immediately put on a mask on it. Now, the teddy sits on a garbage tractor doing the rounds of the city. It carries a message on a cardboard placard tied to it telling residents: “Corona has come, wear a mask”.
Speaking to TOI, Swamy said, “It troubled me to see such a beautiful toy go for
waste
. With sanitation workers being more vulnerable than others to this outbreak, I did what I could do to make people understand the importance to take precautions now.”
Spotting the mascot at Bhramanawada, Pavan Thota, a city resident, said, “The mascot immediately caught my attention. Everyone is attracted to it, kids and elders alike, which allows the message to spread more easily.”
Raghu K, who also lives in the area, was amused at the sight of the soft toy. “This is a great way to create awareness both in the battle against corona and the environment. To take something that has been discarded and put it to better use is best example of waste management. The fact that a sanitation worker thought of doing this shows how ideas can germinate from the ground up, rather than the other way around.”
Acknowledging the role of the sanitation worker, GWMC tweeted, “This is called Human Spirit! Making the #BestOutOfWaste!”