Youngsters wield broom for cleaner City

Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speeches on ‘Clean India,’ a group of young Bengalureans has picked up the broom to clean the City streets.

Calling themselves ‘Wielding the Broom’, the 60-member group comprises mainly of school students and has been garnering appreciation from citizens for its noble initiative.

It all started when Shravan Sunil, a class 10 student from Bishop Cotton Boys’ School, noticed a stinking pile of garbage under the Domlur flyover. He saw how everyone reached for their hankies while passing over the stretch. The civic agency’s apathy irked him so much that he decided to do something about it.

Shravan said: “I brought up the issue with my schoolmates and after a long discussion, we came up with the idea of forming a community that will strive for a cleaner India. The group was formed in the first week of October. Prime Minister Modi's ‘Swachch Bharat Abhiyan’ has inspired us and we too wanted to be a part of it.”

The group carried out its first cleanliness drive in the Domlur flyover area on October 11.
They cleared the garbage dumped on the footpath and under the flyover. They also informed the public about waste segregation and captured pictures of people urinating on roads.

However, the members maintained that the BBMP officials were not cooperative and did not send garbage trucks to lift the waste they cleared during this first cleanliness drive.

The group that initially had 15 members now has the support of residents from different localities and college students. They recently cleaned the Indiranagar area and are planning to soon conduct drives in other localities as well.

Siddhant Gupta, a standard ten student and a member of the group, said that being part of the group he has learnt the importance of waste segregation and cleanliness.
He said: “After cleaning the streets, I now know the difficulty pourakarmikas undergo while picking up the litter thrown on lanes. Ever since I joined the community, I have not dumped waste outside.”