A pillar of the Kottara Chowki flyover at the centre of Kottara Chowki Junction now attracts the attention of many people as members of Kumara Gym Friends have removed all the posters there and painted it on Sunday with an artwork to create awareness on keeping public places clean.
They did it as part of the third phase of the ‘Clean Mangaluru’ campaign taken up by the Ramakrishna Mission, which plans to organise 400 cleanliness drives in the city and surrounding areas.
According to Swami Ekagamyanandaji, co-convener of the campaign, Yashawant Acharya and his team took a lot of pain in painting the pillar.
They would paint the other pillars one per week after getting approval from the National Highways Authority of India in the coming months. It is to prevent further defacement of the pillars with posters. Volunteers have so far cleaned 12 areas in the city and surrounding areas on Sunday.
The cleanliness was done at Ganapathi High School Road, Kottara Chowki, Hampankatta, Padil, Mulihitlu, Nandigudda, Mannagudda, Kodialbail, Valencia, Deralakatte, Merlapadavu and Pachchanady.
Volunteers in Padil cleaned four roads. They also cleaned a bus shelter and repainted it.
The Tailary Road area was cleaned in Mulihitlu. About 60 volunteers cleared the heaps of debris near Daivasthana in that area. Using an earth mover and a tipper, they removed the stones and mud lying there for years together and helped the pedestrians and motorists for easy movement.
Medical students of K.S. Hegde Medical Academy cleared heaps of garbage lying on the pavements and footpaths.
Nitte Education Trust and MRPL are patronising this the third phase of the campaign.
