Society accused of ‘environmental vandalism’

**Warwick Indian Society has been accused of “environmental vandalism” following the level of mess left after its Holi 2013 celebration.
**

Holi 2013 took place on a University field behind Claycroft and Tocil residences on Sunday 10 March.

After receiving a complaint about the mess from a member of the public on 12 March, the _Boar_ found empty cardboard boxes and dozens of empty water bottles discarded in the field the same afternoon.

There were also discarded bags of colouring which had stained the field and pathway. Some of the litter had fallen into the surrounding waters, which are home to various forms of bird life.

An email from the member of public said: “If Warwick students have any concern for their environment I was wondering what they felt when they see such a shameful mess as this?

“The mess is so bad that I, and another member of the public, had assumed that a company had illegally dumped their waste here.”

Siddhant Nag, vice-president of Warwick Indian Society, responded to the allegations and said that the mess had not been cleared up due to “the terrible weather conditions that occurred during and after the event.

“After putting in our best efforts to completely clean the field, the Estates Team intervened and cleared up the remainder of the mess on the Wednesday of that week.”

Mr Nag explained that the colourings used would not harm the environment.

“We decided to use colours that were not harmful and were environmentally-friendly. We tried to reduce the effect of any substances getting into the surrounding water by keeping them away from it; however, the wind made it hard for us to control that.”

He said the colours have also been used in previous Holi celebrations at Warwick.

He added: “While we apologise for the ground being in a bad state, we must add that the entire exec team (which had been up since 6am to set up), spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday trying to clean the mess up.

“With snow, rain, heavy winds and cold weather, the conditions inhibited our ability to complete the task at hand. We would like to emphasize on the fact that the ground’s state was not due to negligence but due to the culmination of various external factors that could not be helped.

“We are glad that the Estates Team decided to help us, as we found ourselves struggling to cope with the weather conditions.‪

A spokesperson for the University said: “Having talked to Security and Estates, I can confirm that it was the Holi 2013 event as organised by the Warwick Indian Society.

“There are discussions ongoing about the future of this event as this has happened before. The cost of the clean up will be billed to the society in question, although I can’t confirm how much that will be.”

He declined to comment further on why the mess was not cleaned up more quickly.

Warwick Students’ Union’s societies officer Silkie Cragg told the _Boar_: “Any society event that risks damage to the campus environment is taken very seriously by the Union and University and this particular case has now been rectified.”

Mr Nag explained the nature of the Holi festival: “Holi is a traditional Hindu colour festival that is celebrated every year by Indians all over the world, including [at] Warwick. Usually this festival falls during a period [when] the conditions are not harsh, hence we have not faced any issues in previous years.”

Watch a video of the mess taken by our _Boar_ reporter: