Agra, Sep 27 (Inditop.com) A 62-year-old Australian who counts Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda as his gurus is leading a campaign here to turn the Taj Mahal city of Agra sparkling clean.
Remco van Santen, who has been motivating and leading cleanliness drives with school children across India, says the time has come to overhaul Agra, India’s most popular tourist destination.
Of Dutch origin, van Santen feels it was unfair to expect the authorities to do the cleaning job. Citizens need to chip in too.
“My Clean India campaign is all about empowerment and creating grassroots democracy through active involvement of youth,” van Santen told Inditop.
“Through community campaigning, discussions and other group activities, we want to drive home the message that cleanliness is everybody’s business. Without waiting for governmental agencies’ intervention, people voluntarily and spontaneously learn to act on their own to change the state of affairs,” he said.
The man quickly added: “Mahatma Gandhi is (my) inspiration.”
Agra, about 200 km south of New Delhi, is home to one of the most beautiful monuments — the 17th century Taj Mahal built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz. The marble marvel is a must see for virtually every tourist visiting India. Even in sweltering heat, the Taj attracts hundreds of thousands of domestic and foreign tourists.
Yet, Agra is a complete opposite. Critics say it is one of the dirtiest urban centres in India.
Agra has expanded rapidly without much planning, leading to residential and business areas that lack civic amenities. Diesel generators, diesel vehicles and numerous tanneries add to high levels of air pollution.
As it flows into Agra, the river Yamuna is hugely contaminated — because 80 percent of the city’s sewage flows into it. Choked drains and piled up garbage are common sights.
Van Remco said: “Each one of us should resolve to not only reduce garbage production but also learn to dispose it of in a proper manner. Let us learn to live in a clean and healthy environment. My Clean India campaign is about helping people empower themselves through community service.”
Van Remco has already been to more than a dozen Indian cities including Nainital, which he says looks a lot more greener now, Ajmer, Lucknow, Allahabad, Chennai and Haldwani.
The second phase of My Clean Agra campaign was launched Friday.
Asked why he chose India for community work, van Remco said: “I have wasted my life running after material gains, running after the carrot dangled before us without satisfying the soul.
“In Australia, there is only anger and depression, no soul. People in India I can relate to. There is so much work to be done here.”
In Agra, van Remco has one message for the young. On Friday, he told an attentive audience at St Peter’s College: “Agra is your city, you have a stake in it. If you don’t act now, it will be too late.
“The city of the Taj should send out a message to the whole country that filth and garbage in our neighbourhood and in our minds will not be tolerated any more.
“Agra is a pearl, but the shell is dirty. You dust and clean the outer layers, and the real sparkling pearl would be there for the world to see.”
