Clean as you jog: Chandigarh MC’s new initiative to protect environment

Chandigarh mayor Sarbjit Kaur on Friday kick-started the initiative in Manimajra, where a group of residents, MC officials and fitness enthusiasts jogged and picked up trash along the road berms and jogging tracks inside the garden

Commemorating Environment Week from June 5 to 11, the municipal corporation has launched the “Clean as you jog” drive, encouraging joggers to pick up garbage as they run.

Chandigarh mayor Sarbjit Kaur and residents cleaning a park in Manimajra as part of the plogging drive on Friday. (HT Photo)

Mayor Sarbjit Kaur on Friday kick-started the initiative in Manimajra, where a group of residents, MC officials and fitness enthusiasts jogged and picked up trash along the road berms and jogging tracks inside the garden.

Simultaneously, MC commissioner Anindita Mitra started plogging – picking up litter while jogging – at New Lake in Sector 42, where area councillor Jasbir Singh, residents and NGO volunteers joined her.

In other parts of the city as well, the respective area councillors and residents participated in plogging activities and discarded all sorts of waste in public dustbins. Residents lauded MC’s initiative and joined the councillors and joggers in their respective areas.

The commissioner said the aim was not to collect huge quantities of trash or clean up the entire gardens or roadsides, but to make a simple effort to save the environment while exercising.

She said such activities will be carried out every weekend to start with. Later, these will be expanded to all parks, throughout the week, where residents from all parts of city can join in.