Mysuru: Led by Deputy Commissioner D. Randeep, members of an NGO and the Pourakarmikas in the presence of Mysore royal family member Pramoda Devi Wadiyar took up the cleaning of the Mysore Palace premises as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, this morning.

The cleaning of the world famous Palace, which began at 6.30 am and lasted for  two hours, was organised by    the District Administration, Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) and  Let’s Do It! Mysore.

Pramoda Wadiyar after launching the cleaning campaign and greeting the people of the city on New Year’s eve, said that the District Administration and MCC was making a lot of efforts to see that the city regains the top spot in the country in this year’s clean city contest, after slipping to the fifth spot. “However, if the people of the city also cooperate with the government in their drive, I am very confident that we will regain the top rank,” she said.

Nearly 100 volunteers of Let’s Do It Mysore with the help of Pourakarmikas who were also clad in white T-shirts presented to them by the NGO were involved in cleaning the 72-acre premises.

The people, who are coming in large numbers to witness the Winter Festival at the Mysore Palace, leave behind plastic bottles, papers and other materials at the cultural programmes in the evenings and the volunteers beginning with DC Randeep swept the place and collected the garbage.

Nearly two goods-auto loads of waste were gathered. DC Randeep urged the volunteers to create more awareness among the public regarding their participation by downloading Swachh Survekshan 2018 mobile app and give their feedback, as it fetches 1,400 marks that is earmarked for it.

There was a huge pile of garbage accumulated in the garbage bins, and DC and others cleaned even this. Mysore Palace Board Deputy Director T.S. Subramanya, Mysore Travel Association President B.S. Prashant, Corporator B.V. Manjunath and others participated.