Army officials, civilians take up 'Clean India' mission in Kashmir

Taking the ambitious 'Clean India' mission forward, army officials and civilians wield brooms along the Line of Control (LoC) in northern Jammu and Kashmir.

Army personnel and civilians swept streets and gathered garbage along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district as a part of 'Clean India' mission, or 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan'.

The campaign was launched by Prime Minster Narendra Modi in October last year, which is also the birthday of peace icon Mahatma Gandhi, with the aim to modernise sanitation within five years.

He started by trying to change attitudes and he set an example by taking a broom and sweeping up rubbish in a Delhi neighbourhood occupied by members of the Valmiki caste, whose lot in life is traditionally "manual scavenging", a euphemism for clearing other people's faeces.

To drive home his point, he had ordered government workers including his ministers to work on October 2, which is a national holiday, to sweep offices and clean toilets.

On Monday, army officials of the Nangi Tekri Battalion along with the civilians participated in the campaign and swept a three-kilometre stretch.

"For Clean India mission, civilians and army officials have come together to clean the border areas. It feels good as everyone participated in the mission," said a resident, Mohammad Munir.

Meanwhile, another resident Pashuram said that the mission should be held once in a month.

"This clean India mission was started by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi in every corner of the country. Keeping this in mind, today the army officials participated in the mission along with people," said Pashuram.