ahmedabad what was a stinking garbage dump in ramnagar sabarmati till four years ago is now a verdant garden with 800 different species of trees and fragrant flowers blossoming there sai garden has become a green haven for children and elderly the man behind this makeover is former nonresident indian hemant vyas who used to live in canada in 1999 after his father a police inspector in crime branch passed away he decided to make ahmedabad his home only to get a shock near his house was a garbage dump where you could even see bodies of newborns it was affecting health of residents and making their life miserable but no one had stepped forward to take any action on an average two trucks of garbage were dumped there daily hospitals too used to get rid of medical waste and many a times cows were injured when syringes got caught in their mouths while feeding vyas says he took it upon himself to start a movement to clean the garbage site he met and convinced locals about environmental hazards and contacted officials of ahmedabad municipal corporation amc soon people started joining his initiativeamc shifted 35 trucks of garbage from the site we decided on a permanent solution and a garden seemed a good idea residents donated their bit to set it up we handed over the garden to the corporation vyas elaborates still residents of ramnagar feel a sense of ownership recently painter budhaji thakore replaced the signboard at the entrance says dr rajni shah who has been practising in the area for the past three decades the major impact of this drive has been on health earlier children of ramnagar used to suffer from skin diseases also since past four years malaria and diarrhoea cases have dropped sharply thanks to vyas initiative vyas 41 who has served in canadian police force is now a lecturer at md college of education in zundal near gandhinagar