Mumbai:
Joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Clean India campaign, the famous dabbawallas (tiffin suppliers) of Mumbai wielded the broom and cleaned the area around the Lower Parel station in south Mumbai.
PM Modi had nominated the dabbawalas, along with nine others, to join the Clean India campaign during his visit to his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi on Thursday.
The dabbawallas were quite enthused by the Prime Minister's nomination.
"We are truly thrilled and honoured. It's a big responsibilty given to us and we shall go all out to implement it," said Subhash Talekar, spokesperson of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust (NMTBST).
"If any of us leaves this responsibility in between, India will never be a clean place. We request everyone to give fifteen minutes of their time and clean their surroundings. We will try and do this every day," he added.
A dabbawala who had participated in the cleaning campaign outside the Lower Parel station told NDTV, "This place should obviously be clean because the customers need hygienic and good food. So it is very important to keep the place where we keep the dabbas clean and hygienic."
Mumbai's 5,000 odd dabbawalas deliver around 1 lakh lunch boxes every day to office goers, school children and students.
The dabbawalas, who belong to an income group of Rs. 8,000 to Rs 10,000 a month, have a Six Sigma quality certificate and a global business fan club, which includes the likes of Prince Charles and Richard Branson.
Their unique management and operational models have been subjects of management study beyond textbooks for global business schools.