Out of the box: Dabbawalas pick up brooms on PM’s appeal

Out of the box: Dabbawalas pick up brooms on PM’s appeal

FPJ BureauUpdated: Saturday, June 01, 2019, 05:23 AM IST
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Elated after PM nominated them, Dabbawalas instantly caught up with the campaign. |

Begin cleanliness drive after being nominated by Modi

Mumbai : After enlisting several celebrities for his ambitious Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday, nominated Mumbai’s dabbawalas (tiffin carriers) to take up the cudgels (and the broom) against the menace of garbage. And so, about 200 dabbawalas took to the street outside Andheri station on Thursday afternoon and cleaned the premises for about 90 minutes.

“I got a call from Education Minister Vinodji Tawde, informing me that we were nominated for the programme by the PM himself. We felt honoured,” said Sopan Mare, ex-president of the Mumbai Jevan Dabe Vahtuk Mandal, an association of 5,000 dabbawalas from the city. In fact the people were so excited that they even distributed sweets to express their joy. They toiled for more than an hour, after which they went for their work.

“I am not sure how much time will we get to contribute towards the cause every day. But we will work on it on weekends. Also, our men cater to about two lakh people in the city. We will try to create awareness among them,” said Bhaurao Karvande, president of the association.

The dabbawalas will now work hard to ensure that people are made aware of the dangers of littering on the city streets and in housing colonies. “We do not have financial backing, but if private organisations are willing to come out with pamphlets depicting the harms caused by filth, we will support it whole-heartedly and distribute them among our clients,” said one of the participants.

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BMC gears up to ‘Clean Mumbai’ 

Mumbai: Municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte, in a meeting with representatives of several government and semi-government agencies on Tuesday, instructed them to submit an action plan for the next five years as part of the ‘Clean India-Clean Mumbai’ programme. He also directed them to conduct a cleanliness drive in their office premises every Friday and another drive in public on Saturdays as is being practiced by BMC employees for the past few months.

Prime Minister Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Programme) has garnered a lot of publicity in the past few months with several celebrities being roped-in for the same. Soon after this programme’s announcement, the BMC had come up with its Clean India-Clean Mumbai programme wherein civic employees took it to themselves to clean up the city on an individual level apart from the BMC’s efforts. Thus, all 227 corporators of the city, along with MLAs, MPs and celebrities participated in the BMC ward office’s initiative on Saturdays where streets, hospitals, parks and other public places were cleaned.

Taking it a step ahead, Kunte convened a meeting of representatives from Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, Central Railway, Western Railway, Public Works Department, Mumbai Port Trust, Chhhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Indian Oil, MTNL, JJ Hospital, city police, Maharashtra Housing And Area Development Authority, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, Slum Rehabilitation Authority and Maharashtra State Electricity Board to discuss their participation in the programme.

Addressing the meeting, Kunte said that all government as well as semi-government agencies must start segregating waste in their premises and create awareness among their employees about the same. Also, he urged them to start producing biogas out of dry waste and organic manure out of wet waste. He also emphasised that toilets in these offices be kept clean.

Kunte then expressed the need of appointing a nodal officer in the city to monitor and coordinate this programme among all these independent agencies. He later asked them to create a team for spreading awareness among citizens about keeping the city clean.

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