A morcha for cleanliness

August 3: It was yet another morcha on the streets of Mumbai. Slogans were shouted, banners were flashed, pamphlets distributed and on-look...

int(3)

August 3: It was yet another morcha on the streets of Mumbai. Slogans were shouted, banners were flashed, pamphlets distributed and on-lookers appealed to join in. Still, it was a morcha with a difference.

A group of Dadar residents, including inspector Prakash Bhosale of Dadar police station, took out a morcha this afternoon to stress the importance of cleanliness. The 10-odd participants appealed to all residents, restaurant owners and hawkers selling eatables “to keep Dadar clean and help the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to make the zero garbage day on August 15 a success.”

The group, Nagarik Dakshata Samiti, has been formed by Prabhakar Nene, who left his job voluntarily to teach people the importance of cleanliness. Nene launched the mission when his only son Ajay, a student of computer engineering, died of jaundice in Pune five years ago. Apparently, he caught the disease after he had food sold by a hawker, who never bothered to follow basic principles of cleanliness. A mourning Nene then quit his job and started promoting cleanliness at public places.

Story continues below this ad

The Samiti today took out the morcha on Prof V S Agashe Road, V R Bhide Road, Krishnaji Chitale Road, Bhavani Shankar Road and other parts of Dadar. Starting at around 11.45 pm, it lasted for nearly two hours. The participants, including inspector Prakash Bhosale in his uniform, carried umbrellas pasted with slogans promoting cleanliness. “We got a good response as people were listening to us and promised us they would keep the area clean,” Nene said.

The group approached those generating garbage daily, guiding them to keep their surroundings clean. Pamphlets carrying precautions useful for maintaining cleanliness were distributed among the people Interestingly, the focus was not on helping the BMC to remove garbage but on helping citizens maintain cleanliness themselves.

“The problem of garbage in your chawl, wadi, is to be solved by you only,” reads the pamphlet.