Actor Trisha Krishnan joined the much-touted Swachh Bharat campaign recently, but city residents have been taking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project to the streets, literally, for months now. Broom-wielding citizens have been taking part in regular cleanliness drives in their neighbourhoods and beyond.
The office of the Zonal Development Commissioner, Madras Export Processing Zone – Special Economic Zone at Tambaram has been conducting two-hour clean-up sessions in their office every week. But, it decided to extend this to the whole SEZ by engaging other private organisations and manufacturers who run large factories inside. “About 100 volunteers from the SEZ cleaned a big bus terminal in the zone which acts as the drop and pick-up point. The waste is then collected and disposed of in an eco-friendly manner,” says Initha Kannan, deputy development commissioner.
Residents of Radhakrishnan Nagar in Adyar too are getting serious about ensuring their surroundings are clean. On the last Sunday of every month, armed with an arsenal of cleaning materials, residents wage war against waste on their streets.
“We are raising funds to provide bins to a slum area nearby. We are also lobbying with residents who park their vehicles for a long time on the road as they tend to gather dust,” says Vidya Shankar, a resident.
