Tourism Ministry spreads 'swachhta' message with street plays

The Tourism Ministry on Sunday organised "Swachhta Hi Sewa" campaign at the India Gate with its Minister K.J. Alphons taking part in a cleaning drive.

To spread the message of 'swachhta' among common people, student teams from Institute of Hotel Management, Pusa and IIMT, Noida, performed street plays themed around importance of sanitation and keeping monuments clean.

"The plays were very good. They sent a very simple and good message on cleanliness," Alphons told IANS after watching the plays.

"We have such an amazing civilisation . I wonder why would anyone dirty it... So start cleaning it now, from our streets, from our surroundings...," the Minister later told the students and those present.

He also administered oaths of "Swachhta Hi Seva" to students under which they took pledge to volunteer at least 100 hours towards such sanitation in a year.

Similar programmes were organised at as many as 15 culturally important locations around the country on Sunday, including Mumbai's Juhu Beach, Rajasthan's Pushkar Temple, and Hyderabad's Charminar.

Apart from the campaign, the ministry is also celebrating its 'Swachhta Pakhwada' (a fortnight of cleaning drives) which started on September 15 and will culminate on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2.

'Swachhta Hi Seva' is a nationwide sanitation campaign which was announced by President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday from a Kanpur village, declared 'open defecation free' recently.

--IANS

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