Agra school girls pick up the broom to clean city

New Delhi News.Net
Wednesday 1st October, 2008 (IANS)

Over 500 school girls used brooms to clean up a road as part of a cleanliness campaign in this Uttar Pradesh city, which is home to the Taj.

The girl students from St Anthony's College, who were armed with broomsticks, Tuesday cleaned up a part of the Mall road used by tourists to go to the Taj Mahal. The clean up was part of 'My Clean Agra' campaign.

In other Clean Agra campaign activities, students from St Andrew's College took out a procession in Balkeshwar area to stress the need for proper disposal of garbage. They also persuaded people to stop littering and recycle plastic.

John Farreira, principal of St Peter's College, led hundreds of students to clean up the main MG Road from Soor Sadan auditorium to Hari Parbat crossing.

John said he would convene a meeting of all shopkeepers and flat owners to work out a permanent arrangement for regular cleaning.

Students from Gayatri Public School took the lead to clean up the Shahid Smarak and the park around it.

Prelude School students cleaned up the Dayalbagh area with support from the teachers and management committee members.

The main focus was on cleaning of the road to Taj Mahal from Shilpgram.

Shyam Singh Yadav, Municipal Commissioner, led the volunteers in picking up the litter. Yadav announced that the corporation would hold ward-wise cleanliness drives with support from the local community.

Remco Van Santen, the chief promoter of the campaign, said through these programmes 'we want to drive home the message that cleanliness was everybody's business. People should act on their own and through community efforts clean up their areas. Mahatma Gandhi should be the inspiration.'

Australian national Remco -- a former chemist who has now dedicated himself to social causes -- exhorted students to make Agra the city beautiful within a year. 'It's your city, you have a stake, if you don't act now it will be too late,' he said.

Programme organisers told IANS that in a series of interactions with the students, the passion as well as the concern for cleanliness was clearly visible and this 'was clear from the enthusiastic response the campaign received from the students'.

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