Campaign to clean up cities launched in Delhi

An initiative that aims to clean up littered public spaces in cities around the country through collective action by citizens, governments and the private sector was launched here Thursday.

Brainchild of NGO Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) India, the 'Click2Clean' community-driven initiative, is initially being rolled out in the national capital region (Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad) initially and will later cover cities across the country.

"Citizens will upload photographs of unclean and littered public spaces, after which a screening committee will select 100 sites from all the images it receives and ensure the sites become litter-free within a given timeframe," said CAF India CEO Meenakhsi Batra.

A dedicated page on social networking site Facebook has been created where citizens will be able to upload the images, she added.

Noting that there was immense pressure on the civic agencies of major cities due to increasing migration from rural to urban areas, Batra said: "The Click2Clean campaign is appealing to corporates and individuals to participate in this movement to clean our cities."

The campaign aims to raise public awareness, build critical ethical and civic sense in communities, enhance citizen participation and volunteerism through civic action, and promote partnerships and alliances among various stakeholders, she added.

CAF India, had in 2014, launched the "Right2Sanitation" campaign, which is working towards improving sanitation infrastructure and hygiene education in schools, households and among communities across India.