In a bid to create awareness about the importance of handwashing, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, girl students of Delhi University staged various kinds of handwashing demonstrations in the background of the Taj Mahal in Agra to mark the ‘Global Handwashing day.’ The girls who participated in the awareness drive in the city are from the national capital and part of sanitation pioneer Sulabh International’s school sanitation club.
The awareness drive by these young girls was organized at various points including the main entrance gate and streets around Tajmahal and Dashara Ghat to bring the attention of tourists as well aw passersby towards “Handwashing “. They performed street dances and acts to highlight handwashing procedures.
“As the Taj Mahal is one of the most popular landmarks in India, we chose Agra to propagate the message of handwashing to masses,” said Rupak Ray Choudhary, project head of the initiative.
In Agra, our volunteers have been promoting safe #handwashing amongst the security personnel, staff and tourists at the #tajmahal #handwashingday #HandHygieneforAll thank you @ASIGoI for your support pic.twitter.com/jNApt0MngZ
— Sulabh International (@SulabhIntl) October 15, 2020
During the awareness drive, special care was taken to follow all the norms of social distancing, which is important to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Founder of Sulabh sanitation movement Bindeshwar Pathak in a statement said, “Since 1970s Sulabh’s interventions have recognised the importance of handwashing with soap as the best way to reduce disease transmission. We have trained thousands of women from the targeted community to become change leaders and it has worked.”
Pathak emphasized that the coronavirus pandemic has brought back the attention to practicing hands hygiene. “Regular washing of hands can be a first-line deterrence against any outbreak,” the Sulabh sanitation movement founder said.
Hands can carry virus. Let’s raise awareness about the importance of hand-hygiene and encourage our family and friends to follow frequent hand-washing as a precautionary measure to stay safe and healthy.
#SwasthaBharat #HealthForAll #GlobalHandwashingDay pic.twitter.com/Wa3MQNtei0
— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) October 15, 2020
He said that Sulabh organized a series of awareness programs in different parts of the country including slums like Dharavi of Mumbai and public places in Delhi with the help of Delhi Police and Railways.
Global Handwashing Day is an annual event celebrated on October 15 to create awareness about the importance of washing hands with soap and water.