NDMC launches initiatives as part of Swachh Bharat campaign

New Delhi, Sep 28: School children offering flowers to people found littering during a cleanliness awareness rally was among a series of programmes launched today by the NDMC as part of

's 'Swachh Bharat' campaign.

A group of students of schools under the New Delhi Municipal Council along with 40 security guards of the civic body took part in the rally flagged off in Connaught Place by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan early this morning.

People caught throwing waste in open, spitting, etc were given flowers with a message to stop doing it in future. NDMC officials said the idea was taken from Bollywood movie 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' and thus the event was called 'Gandhigiri'.

The rally was carried out as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or Clean India campaign, a mass movement aimed at cleaning the country which will be officially launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2. On October 2, Modi will visit Valmiki Sadan, which is under the jurisdiction of NDMC, to inaugurate a modern toilet block there.

Modi, who will come to the area after the programme at Rajghat, will also sweep the road leading to Valmiki Sadan to set an example, the officials said.

Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari will also participate in the campaign and visit two jhuggi clusters in Kali Bari Marg.

The civic body has also created a Facebook page, 'hohoshameshame' and has asked the people to post photographs of all those littering or urinating at public places, NDMC chairperson Jalaj Shrivastava said, adding, best photograph of the day will be selected and the sender will be rewarded.

Indian mountaineer Santosh Yadav, who is the first woman to climb Mount Everest twice, has agreed to be the brand ambassador for the campaign, Shrivastava said. The chairman has also issued an appeal to the Resident Welfare Associations, traders associations, and market associations to make the cleanliness drive a success.

Nukkad and cycle rallies are also being organised by the NDMC staff. The drive includes sweeping and cleaning, removal of garbage, debris, horticulture waste, unauthorised encroachments from the main roads, side lanes, and all of the main markets and residential places.

The workers have also started fogging the residential areas in the NDMC limits.

PTI