21 January. BHEL, Bhopal. Clean India Mission is one of the biggest campaigns run all around the Country which aims to clean up the roads, streets and infrastructure of cities, smaller towns, and rural areas of the country.
The objectives of Swachh Bharat mission include eliminating open defecation through the construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets and establishing an accountable mechanism of monitoring toilet use. It is basically Run by the Government of India and the mission aims to achieve an Open-Defecation Free (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing 12 million toilets in rural and urban India at a projected cost of ₹1.96 lakh crore.
Not only the government, Now the citizens of Bhopal are also being aware and responsible for the cleanliness of the city and working hard for Bhopal to secure 1st rank in India’s cleanest city this year. A great example of being an ideal citizen is set by the members of ‘Bhopal i-clean team- Spot fixing program’. Where the youth of Bhopal contributes to clean and beautify the streets and other dirty areas. Every Sunday, a part of Bhopal is beautified and cleaned up by the Pro-active members of this group. Today, they had a mega spot fixing program at Dhanwantari Park, where more than 200 members of the team gathered to clean BHEL road near Satya Sai Girls College.
Few students from SSGC, also took part. In fact, people from the other cities of India also became a part of in this campaign.
Disha News talked with one of the Founders of i-clean Bhopal, Kalpana Kekre, who told that they were inspired by the facebook posts of The ugly Indian, a voluntary organization conducting spot fixing in Bengaluru. They decided to do something similar in Bhopal. She said, “We were only 6 people in the very beginning who got in contact through social media, And now there are almost 200 members in their team. They work from 7 AM to 12 AM every Sunday.”
Looking at the colourful walls painted beautifully, Disha News asked her, how do they make it possible?
“We beautify the walls so that people think twice before making them dirty again,” says 53 years old Kalpana, adding that the commissioner of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation also supports their cause and joins them at different spots on some Sundays.
The team has cleaned and did beautification of 200 spots in Bhopal till now. Most of the team members are students and belong to the age group of 18-30. About 50-60 people are present during the ground work usually. Many other NGO’s were invited by i-clean Bhopal to take part. An Organization from Lalitpur(UP) named ‘Lalitpur Jaagrukta Abhiyan’ founded in 2014 was also associated with i-clean bhopal, its members became a part of it.
Disha News talked to the founder of ‘Lalitpur Jaagrukta Abhiyan’ Mrs. Archana B. K. Agrawal who said, “We all have so much importance of cleanliness in our lives that if we do not live in a clean and beautiful environment, then we have to face many diseases and problems for which we ourselves are responsible. Our team has traveled all the way from UP to contribute in this campaign because we believe that when it’s about the duty for the earth and society, one must not hesitate even a little to come ahead. If being a house wife, and A mother of two, I can do it, then anyone can!!
The Municipal corporation of Bhopal also cooperates with the team every Sunday. An officer of municipal corporation, Sanket Kumar told Disha News, “I’ve been working with the team and managing the clean up with the help of JCB machine and grass cutter and sweepers. We reach at a dirty place at 7 AM every Sunday. Today many people have come from Nagpur, Raisen and other cities. We’re on a mission to make Bhopal no. 1” he added.
A youngster of Bhopal, Rahul Rai who has been constantly working hard to clean the places, told Disha News that he’s associated with team i-clean from last 2 years. He says, “Our earth is our home, our mother, so can’t we even keep it clean and beautiful? Let’s adopt some good habits to keep our home and the environment around us clean and contribute to the cleanliness campaign and give a clean and healthy environment to our future generations.”
More than 80 people from Nagpur were also seen sweeping the roads and collecting poly bags from roads.
One boy from Nagpur says, “We all know that spreading dirt or garbage is wrong, but we have this mentality that it is not my house, so we throw away any garbage with all freedom which is totally disgusting. And If we clean up our minds removing this cheap mentality, this world will be cleaned up again automatically. It is very important for the people of India that they feel good emotionally, physically, mentally, socially and intellectually. In real terms, it is important to advance the status of living in India, which can be started by bringing cleanliness.” said Rai.
The enthusiasm of young volunteers were splendid as they were also shouting slogans like “Hum sab ka ek hi naara, saaf suthara ho desh hamara.”, “Green city clean city, My dream city.”, “Kare hum aisa kam, bani rahengi desh ki shan.” etc.
