• Over 80 volunteers take part in cleaning drive
• Clear the stairway of plastic bags, bottles, chips packets

Mysore/Mysuru: Ahead of Ashada Friday puja rituals atop Chamundi Hill from July 1, Sir M. Visvesvaraya Tap and Drainage Workers Welfare Association took up the cleaning of 1,008 steps leading to Sri Chamundeshwari Temple this morning.

Over 80 volunteers of the Association including devotees took part in the cleaning drive for the sixth consecutive year.

Columnist and Writer Bannur K. Raju launched the cleaning campaign at the foot of Chamundi Hill by offering floral tribute to Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar’s portrait.

Speaking on the occasion, Raju said that Swachh Bharat Mission is the multidimensional ideology of Mahatma Gandhi. “Gandhiji believed that a strong country could only be built on the shoulders of cleanliness. Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought the Swachh Bharat Mission into practice by launching it on Oct. 2, 2014, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.”

He lauded the Association’s efforts in cleaning the Chamundi Hill steps for the sixth consecutive year without expecting anything in return.

Former Deputy Mayor Siddaraju, who too spoke, said that it is Mysore Maharajas who have the pride of introducing many drives and campaigns in those days to keep the city clean and hygienic. He also recalled the contributions of Nalwadi to keep Mysuru as the cleanest city.

The volunteers picked up chocolate wrappers, chips packets, plastic covers, paper plates, plastic bottles and other non-degradable waste thrown by the devotees and tourists in the hill steps area. Association President S. Mahesh, General Secretary Kale Gowda, Treasurer M. Ravikumar, Director Chandre Gowda, office-bearers Palaniswamy, Suresh Kumar and others  took part in the drive.