Around 15,000 volunteers, including students, volunteers from civil society, Indian Railways, Territorial Army, panchayats, various wings of the Himachal Pradesh government on Saturday took part in cleanliness drive on UNESCO world heritage Kalka-Shimla rail track.

The massive cleanliness, protection and conservation drive was launched by Governor Acharya Devvrat on the Kalka-Shimla railway track from Baba Bhalku Museum.

The drive was organised by HP State Legal Services Authority and Acting Chief Justice, High Court Justice Sanjay Karol, Judges of HC, Advocate General, officers of state, Central government and Railways.

The drive began simultaneously across 43 different segments that had been identified all along the 96 km track from Shimla to Kalka and 3,000 trees were also planted during the campaign.

The drive will be followed by constant maintenance and forestation that will be conducted by Himachal ‘Eco-warriors’, the Territorial Army. Impact assessments and a follow-up are also planned following this initial measure.

Addressing the students and the participants at the railway station, Acharya Devvrat called upon the students to become brand ambassador for
cleanliness.

He appreciated the initiative and applauded the efforts of Justice Sanjay Karol in spreading the message of cleanliness amongst children.

READ: Special trains for tourists on Shimla-Kalka heritage track

He said such efforts were required to achieve the goal of clean India. He urged the students to give new direction to the nation and carry forward this campaign so that others could also be motivated for adopting cleanliness.

Acharya Devvrat thanked three international players Suman Rawat, Ravinder Banshtu and Sanat Kalet for becoming the part of this campaign.

The Kalka-Shimla railway track has been divided into 43 sections of around 2 km each for conducting the walk along the track out of which 32 sections covering a length of 67 km fall in Solan district and 11 segments covering a length of 23 km fall in Shimla district.

Under the drive, 43 groups of students and other participants have been formed who will collect litter and waste as they walk along the track in their specified sections.

Group in-charge of all the 43 sections have been nominated for smooth and safe conduct of the cleanliness drive along the track. Besides students, PRI representatives, Lawyers, NGOs, Mahila Mandals, Yuvak Mandals, clubs, MCs, transport unions etc have also been involved for the cleanliness of the track.

Safety precautions are being taken special care of during the cleanliness campaign and teams from Police, Health, Forest, Education, IPH, Railways, Territorial Army have also been deployed. The participants will not cross tunnels, bridges and track during the cleanliness campaign along the railway track.