Plogging is combination of Fit India and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Kiren Rijiju

Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju on Thursday said that plogging is a combination of both Fit India Movement and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

"The plog run which started on October 2 is an amazing run and I must thank Ripu Daman (Belvi) for taking a lead role. The Prime Minister has recognised it and spoken to him also. I feel that cleaning is everybody's job and by doing the plog run, cleaning is becoming glamorous. You are jogging and cleaning by picking up the trash," Rijiju told reporters.

"You are doing things for your fitness as well as for cleanliness. So this is a combination of Fit India movement and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan," he added.

Belvi has done 50 plogging runs so far and the sports minister handed him a certificate for completing 50 runs.

"We also gave a certificate to Ripu Daman. This is his 50th plog run in the country, so, I congratulated and offered him the certificate," Rijiju said.

Earlier, Rijiju took to Twitter to write: "Everyone can do it! On the clarion call of PM @narendramodi Ji #Plogging is spreading fast. This morning, I declared Ripu Daman Belvi, @plogmanofindia as a Fit India Ambassador. Since 2nd Oct, he has done 50th Plogging combining @swachhbharat and #FitIndiaMovement #Plasticfree."

Belvi said the idea behind plogging was to do something which was unprecedented and to set an example for everyone to follow.

"The idea was to do something which is unprecedented in the world and to set an example for everyone to follow. During these two months, we covered 50 cities and tried to get as many people involved from across the spectrum of the society," Belvi said.

"There were children, adults and also people who were 80 years old. That was the whole idea, to get everyone involved into this activity and understand that the real solution to the problem that we have around littering is that we stop littering and start cleaning," he added.

Belvi also urged people to go on Plastic Upvas which he has been doing.

"The other message was the Plastic Upvas that I have been on. In this, we ask people to shun one single-use plastic item from their lives. The thing could be anything like straw, plastic bottle or polythene bag. These are small-small things that we wanted to deliver as a message but these are so simple and so easy to adopt that people can actually go ahead and adopt it. The experience has been wonderful," he said.