SHILLONG, Oct 26 � Call it Prime Minister Narendra Modi�s urgent call for a Swachh Bharat (Clean India) or the Khasi tribal society�s penchant for cleanliness, a group of school students in the State capital today cleaned an entire bazaar area, while urging all shopkeepers to keep a dustbin in front of their shop.
Spearheaded by an organisation called �Citizens For Clean Shillong (CFS,)� students from Mayfair, Arya Kanya Vidyalaya and other schools from Laitumkhrah collected themselves this morning. Armed with gloves, face masks and brooms, they cleaned the streets and parking lot around the Laitumkhrah Bazaar.
Dubbing themselves as the �waste warriors,� these diligent school children cleaned up the area in a matter of an hour, which was laid dirty and filthy by all and sundry. �When the school children descended on the streets and started cleaning, it amazed the bystanders,� an organising members of the cleanliness drive said.
In a matter of an hour the entire area was spic and span and as part of the awareness movement, the students made an appeal to the shopkeepers in the area to keep a dustbin each in front of their shops and requested them to encourage the public at large to use them instead of littering the streets and dirtying the area.
Roger, a class X student of All Saints� School, who was part of the group, said: �I would like to see Shillong become the cleanest capital city of the country with the mass participation of the entire civil society who can augment the efforts of the Municipal authorities.�
CFS coordinator Easter Kharbamon, assisted by Som, Manjuri Thapa, Satish Pradhan and Nikhil Sinha were provided adequate support from the Shillong Municipal authorities who provided the garbage collection truck to assist them.
The tribal Khasi society is known for according high priority towards cleanliness. Mawlynnong, a village in East Khasi Hills is dubbed as the �cleanest village in Asia� and it attracts tourists from all around the globe.
However, in recent times the State capital has been facing garbage disposal problems, as in any growing city. There has been a sustained campaign by several NGOs to improve sanitation to promote public health.
