Braving the hot and sultry weather, a cleanliness drive was held in Laxminagar area, at Baljagat, this Sunday morning, as per the initiative taken by its Secretary, Sri Jagdish Suklikar, who alongwith volunteers of I-Clean Nagpur, jointly cleaned and beautified the premises and walls of this lovely institution engaged in the promotion of art, culture, and sports, amongst the youth of Nagpur.
Central Member of KVIC, Sri Jaiprakash Gupta visited the spot and interacted with all members, explaining about Khadi, and the specially designed National Flag to celebrate “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” in the 75th year of our independence.
The participants painted attractive Warli designs relating to Yoga, sporting activities, restrictions on single-use plastics, and general cleanliness on the walls, to create awareness about these important aspects in our daily life, in which the I-Clean group specialises. This is their 223rd spot in the region. This voluntary group has completed over seven years of their formation. They believe that the cleanliness habit needs to be inculcated into the minds of our youth, right from an early, impressionable age.
It is the group’s thought that cleanliness is next to godliness, and a clean surrounding will automatically promote a healthy environment for all citizens. In a connected activity, the I-Clean team is also actively supporting the civic administration in implementing the much needed ban on single-use plastics. This message is being prominently painted on all their spots. Members undertake periodical drives to educate vendors and the common man about this menace, which causes damage to our environment, livestock and human life.
Age is no barrier for this group. They have volunteers ranging from 10 to 65+ year-olds who contribute in their own ways, towards the cleanliness and beautification of our city. Members include persons from many vocations, including students, housewives, young children, CA, doctors, lawyers, business persons, IT professionals, retired persons, and others. Anyone with a sincere will to clean and beautify our city, is welcome to join this voluntary organisation.
At least 3-4 new members join the group at each spot. This spot also had many neighbours, including children, who joined in the activity voluntarily, and also served refreshments and drinking water to all the participants. Earlier spots done by this team include various lakes of Nagpur, railway stations, bus stops, schools, colleges, old age homes, hospitals, Mokshadham, clubs, busy squares, hostels, remand homes, culverts, parking zones, police stations, and other places of public interest.
To fund their activities, each volunteer makes a minimum contribution of ₹50 every month. Some voluntary contributions are also received from citizens at each spot. It is the group’s vision that every city in India should have an I-Clean team and each citizen should follow the cleanliness regime.
With I-clean, it is ‘I’ before ‘You’. It is in the name – I should do it rather than asking you to do it.
The group has made an appeal to all like-minded people of Nagpur to join them in their zest for cleaning and beautifying the city. They also requested residents to help maintain the cleanliness of the beautified spot by adopting proper methods of garbage disposal as also through continuous vigil. People of all ages and vocations can voluntarily be a part of these efforts. You can call Ajinkya on 8421930862 or Jaideep on 7743994550 to be a part of this selfless group that is making efforts to make Nagpur really a clean and smart region.
