Know why this cop is the face of PM Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in Nagaland

For more than a week now, this Nagaland policeman is collecting waste in his own van to keep his hometown clean.

Kohima, April 3: There a few Samaritans who don't need any official designation or monetary reward to work for the betterment of society. One such example is the story of a Nagaland policeman, who is voluntarily cleaning garbage of his town alone for more than a week now.

Meet Neingupe Maru, who works as a constable in the Nagaland police department and regularly cleans his town, Pfutsero, voluntarity. Pfutsero is a block-headquarter in Phek district of Nagaland and located nearly 70 kilometres from the state capital, Kohima.

The cop decided to clean his town after the town committee was dissolved in January this year before the municipal elections. Maru's small town, with a population of over 10,000 residents, is running without a municipal council for the last three months as the scheduled elections are yet to take place due to the opposition from Naga tribes against reservation of women.

Moreover, the designated garbage van of the town is also lying defunct for a few months now. All these 'roadblocks' did not deter the policeman to take the matter into his hands after his town turned into a garbage dumping yard in the recent months.

Maru decided to use his own old Maruti van as a dumper to collect waste from across the town. After collecting the garbage from the neighbourhoods and roads, Maru started depositing the waste in a dumping ground outside his town.

"I was concerned with the large amounts of garbage getting accumulated and was worried it could lead to an outbreak of some disease," Maru told Hindustan Times.

"Sometimes, I clean the streets in the morning and sometimes on evenings, depending on my duty hours. It takes 3-4 trips these days to clean the entire town," he said.

It is not just time and energy that Maru is investigating to keep his hometown clean. He also pays from his pocket to buy petrol for the garbage van and tools and garbage bags needed to clean the waste.

"He's doing a very commendable job. Not many of us are willing to do such work, which is considered dirty. It is a very encouraging sight to see him working," said Kupelhi Losou, a Pfutsero resident and director of Kalos Society, a local NGO.

Maru's commitment to keep his town clean makes him a perfect 'brand ambassador' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

OneIndia News