20,000 volunteers to clean up Sabarmati today

Nearly 20,000 Amdavadis have vowed to join the Sabarmati river clean-up drive, that begins on Wednesday, led by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. The project is one of the measures to be undertaken by the administration to mark World Environment Day.

The volunteers – comprising social organizations, civic workers, corporates and NGOs – will pick up plastic and other waste from the polluted river.

The city's mayor Bijal Patel and municipal commissioner Vijay Nehra said the drive will continue till June 9. "After the river has been cleared of all the waste, only treated sewage water will be discharged into it," said Patel on Tuesday. A total of 18 crore litres of treated sewage water is expected to be let into the river every day.

Two other civic initiatives were announced on Tuesday: The launch of Joint Enforcement Teams comprising staffers from the Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and the city's policemen.

They will be given electric rickshaws, and four-member teams will engage in surveillance rounds to report and thwart violation of norms related to traffic, construction or fire safety. They will also be authorised to take against violators on the spot.

AMC will also begin a drive to plant 10 lakh trees to increase the city's green cover.