Navi Mumbai is preparing for a massive highway cleanliness drive on Sunday, 28 September, under the Swachh Bharat Mission’s nationwide campaign ‘Swachhata Hi Seva.’ The drive, starting at 7 am, has been announced by the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), which has urged citizens, local institutions, NGOs, and various organisations to actively join the effort. The campaign will focus on two of the busiest roads in the city, the Sion-Panvel Highway and the Thane-Belapur Road, both of which are vital lifelines for daily commuters and intercity transport.

This initiative, guided by Municipal Commissioner Dr Kailas Shinde, is aimed at ensuring that these high-traffic areas remain clean, litter-free, and better maintained. The NMMC hopes to bring together civic officials, students, volunteers, and NGOs to turn this campaign into a community-led movement for a cleaner and healthier urban environment.

Highways Under the Spotlight

Sunday’s effort will specifically target the Sion-Panvel Highway and the Thane-Belapur Road, which together connect Navi Mumbai to Mumbai, Thane, Panvel, and Pune. Though the Sion-Panvel stretch largely falls under the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department, the city’s municipal corporation is taking responsibility for cleaning the portions of the route passing through Navi Mumbai. NMMC staff will work alongside volunteers to remove litter and debris from these arterial roads, thereby improving sanitation and creating a cleaner travelling experience for commuters.

Adding further strength to the campaign, volunteers from the well-known Dr Shri Nanasaheb Dharmadhikari Pratishthan in Revdanda, Maharashtra, will also be joining hands with the civic body. Their involvement points to the success of citizen-driven collaborations in Navi Mumbai’s public welfare activities. By organising this campaign on a large scale, the civic administration wants to set an example of how highways, often neglected in routine cleaning, can be maintained to strengthen the overall image of the city.

Building Momentum from Past Efforts

The upcoming highway cleaning campaign is not an isolated event. It builds on the momentum generated earlier in the week under NMMC’s special programme called ‘Ek Divas, Ek Saath, Ek Ghanta’ (One Day, One Together, One Hour). That citywide initiative, conducted on 25 September, witnessed an overwhelming response, with more than two lakh students accompanied by over twenty-five thousand citizens assembling to clean roads, open spaces, and public places across all eight administrative wards of Navi Mumbai.

The scale and success of that earlier initiative have encouraged NMMC to extend the idea to major stretches of national and state highways passing through the city. Officials believe that visible results on highways will not only boost commuter morale but will also encourage people to avoid littering public spaces. The shift from local areas to crucial arterial roads is being seen as a natural progression in the city’s cleanliness mission.

Encouraging Community Ownership

Navi Mumbai’s civic body has been carrying out several activities under the broader Swachh Bharat Mission with a focus on public responsibility. Officials state that cleanliness cannot be achieved by administrative machinery alone, and it requires the active participation of residents. By involving NGOs, student groups, and social organisations, the civic corporation seeks to foster a sense of shared ownership in maintaining public hygiene.

Through this campaign, Dr Kailas Shinde and his team have appealed to citizens to actively volunteer on Sunday. The NMMC hopes that the effort will not only keep the highways clean but also instil long-term behavioural changes, such as discouraging roadside littering and encouraging sustainable practices. Officials also believe that such visible efforts will put Navi Mumbai among the leading cities in terms of implementing the objectives of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

With civic groups, volunteers, and residents joining hands, the 28 September highway cleanliness drive is expected to be more than just a one-day effort. The NMMC sees it as an essential step toward creating a cleaner city that respects hygiene, public health, and environmental responsibility.

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