By IANS,
New Delhi : The capital’s residents, long used to shirking municipal sweepers and litter-piled streets, have been in for a surprise as thousands of volunteers, ranging from students to housewives and even businessmen, armed with long brooms have trooped through various neighbourhoods with a mission to clean the city.
Over 150,000 volunteers, who came to the city Wednesday, started their drive from Rajghat. They will end their drive Thursday evening, cleaning almost all parts of the city.
Dera Sacha Sauda, a social and spiritual organisation in Sirsa, Haryana, that participates in all kind of welfare activities has organised this activity. They have provided the volunteers with several equipments to clean the city.
Explaining the concept behind this unique drive, Varun Wadhwa, a financier and a volunteer, told IANS: “We are cleaning the country so that citizens understand their prerogative in keeping the city lean and do not litter around.”
The volunteers, both men and women and many wearing uniforms proclaiming a “Green Force”, have came from different parts of the country like Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab. Most of them are surprisingly, students, some even postgraduates, as well as financiers, businessman, traders, teachers and social workers.
They started the drive with Delhi as the first city and plan to take it ahead.
“The head of our Dera Sachha Sauda Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan will decide the next place. It could be Faridabad, Gurgaon or Noida. The main objective is to clean the whole country,” said Phiray Singh Insan, a member of the organisation.
“Everybody whether old or young has participated in the drive which will end today (Thursday). This was a two day drive in which we have cleaned more than 60 percent of Delhi…I am sure we will be able to clean up the entire city by evening,” he added.
In order to cover the whole city, the volunteers were divided into 13 teams. Each team worked in different zones across Delhi. The teams were further divided into different wards in a particular zone, officials told IANS.
Besides, the team also sought help from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in their mission.
“We explained our mission to the MCD officials and sought their help in getting the garbage carrying vans. They deployed some MCD workers with us who are guiding us,” said another senior official of Dera Sacha Sauda, Meghraj Insan.