By IANS,
Lucknow : A princess, who is a French national, will lead a cleanliness drive in the slums of this erstwhile city of Nawabs, officials said Monday.
Princess Fay Ary, also known as Princess Jahanara, who was married to one of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah’s great grandsons, will head the Oct 15 cleanliness drive.
The drive will be carried out in association with Lucknow University’s (LU) tourism department and a non-profit organisation called Tornos Foundation, an official said.
“The princess, who is now settled in France, will visit our city to lead the cleanliness drive that will be carried out in slums, near the second campus of LU in Jankipuram locality,” Manoj Dixit, director of the LU’s institute of tourism study, told IANS.
“It will be a unique occasion that would give us an altogether different experience. With the cleanliness drive, we basically want to send out a message that if a member of the royal family can undertake the cleanliness drive, then why can’t commoners?” he said.
In order to carry out the drive, the Tornos Foundation has also collaborated with The Royal Avadhi Cultural and Heritage Foundation (RACHF) – a non-profit, public charitable trust, registered in the US, that supports economic development, culture, and scholarship organisations for disadvantaged students in India.
The intention of both foundations is to enable people to help themselves rather than live on charity, officials said.
Praising the efforts of the students of LU’s tourism department, Prateek Hira, coordinator of the RACH foundation said: “By the joint cleanliness drive, we also want to project the importance of cooperation. Such small exercises if carried out at regular intervals can bring about big changes.”