A mass clean-up drive was conducted in and around Othakadai in Madurai on Saturday as part of the Ezhil Koodal (Clean Madurai) campaign.

Minister for Commercial Taxes and Registration P. Moorthy inaugurated the second phase of the campaign in the presence of Collector K.J. Praveen Kumar and officials.

Cleaning work was taken up in 360 streets in 13 villages covering a total distance of about 4.5 km. Around 500 sanitary workers and volunteers, 120 e-carts, 10 tractors, 5 trucks and also truck mounted road sweeping machines were deployed.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Moorthy said as part of the first phase of the campaign, a clean-up drive was conducted around the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple. Now, the focus has shifted to panchayat-level.

The main objective of the campaign was to clean the place and also plant saplings wherever possible to extend the green cover, he said.

He urged the people, particularly students, volunteers and members of residents welfare associations to actively participate in the campaign and support the initiative to clean Madurai.

Taking into account the complaints of the residents of Othakadai that sewage was being discharged into waterbodies, he said steps would be taken to prevent this and maintain the waterbodies. Steps would also be taken towards the beautification of waterbodies, he said.

The Minister said in the next phase of the campaign, a clean-up drive will be conducted in the places along the Vaigai river.

As part of the clean-up drive, the sanitary workers removed plastic items, waste and garbage dumped along the roadside and also removed posters stuck on bus shelters. Sand and dust were removed from the roads using truck mounted road sweeping machines. The Collector instructed the shop owners not to encroach on the footpath and the authorities to ensure that the footpath was properly maintained.

Mass clean-up drive conducted in and around Othakadai