The Hindu               06.06.2013

Children from slum areas show the way

Launch cleanliness drive as part of the World Environment Week.

Children of slum areas in Berhampur launched a cleanliness drive on Wednesday as part of the World Environment Week.

During the week, the children would meet corporators of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) to discuss with them the problems and issues pertaining to their respective areas.

The ambitious project to make the children part of societal activity has been initiated by the Youth for Social Development (YSD), a philanthropic organisation of the city.

At the initiation of the YSD, children’s clubs had been established in 15 major slums of the city. In all, 400 children had already become members of these clubs.

Awareness

“Our aim is to create awareness on cleanliness among the inhabitants of the city, especially among the slum-dwellers, through these children,” said Bibhu Prasad Tripathy of the YSD.

In the morning, members of children’s clubs at Dhobabndhahuda, Haridakhandi, and Raghupati Nagar launched the cleanliness drive. They cleaned up their respective areas and also sprinkled bleaching powder. For most of the children, it was a means to have fun during the continuing summer vacation.

Several inhabitants of these areas started helping the children to clean up the areas near their houses.

The cleanliness drive would be taken up in 12 other slums in a phased manner till June 11. Dates to meet the corporators have also been fixed. The corporators have also agreed to meet and discuss with the children the problems in the slums.

Representatives of the children’s clubs would also meet the Commissioner of the BMC on June 10.