Around 100 students from North Campus will participate in the effort to clean the campus and adjoining streets. The move comes after the Social Service League, an eco-club of St Stephen's College, decided to help make a cleaner campus.

“Even in colleges like St Stephen's students won't think twice before littering the area. So, in January, we contacted the Delhi government’s Environment department,” said Pushparaj V Deshpande, secretary of the League. “We asked them to help us clean the campus.

“They were impressed by our enthusiasm and said they will inspect the area and take the necessary steps.”

MCD Additional Commissioner Naresh Kumar visited the Campus today to take note of the garbage situation. “The drains are clogged with plastic that need immediate removal,” he said.

On Saturday morning, the group of volunteers will first collect the garbage from the colleges and then head for the streets and ditches. The collected garbage will be taken away by the MCD that will segregate it into paper waste and plastic.

The paper waste will be recycled into chart papers that will be later used for the Delhi State Art Competition, scheduled for February 14.

Pushparaj said they have plans to turn the cleanliness drive into a weekly or a monthly activity and spread the idea all over Delhi. “Delhi is still lacking in basic awareness regarding cleanliness. We wish to educate people how to act as enlightened citizens,” he said.

“The campaign is an initiative to spread awareness about cleanliness, hygiene and recycling,” said Dr B C Sabata, Senior Science Officer, Delhi government. Sabata says every college has an eco club that looks after the sanity and hygiene of the college.