Army officials and local residents continued with their cleanliness drive in Jammu and Kashmir after the region was hit by the worst floods in over a century.
Army personnel swept streets to clear debris and garbage strewn on streets of Srinagar and also disinfected local areas.
Srinagar has been witnessing frequent cleanliness and sanitation drives ever since the flood waters receded in the city, where more than one million people reside. Emergency workers have been battling to prevent waterborne diseases like cholera from spreading.
"Whenever flood hits any state, our first aim is rescue, relief and restoration. We managed to rescue a lot of people. Simultaneously we provided relief, ration, water and medicines because they had lost all their belongings in the floods. We began the restoration work before the spread of disease and dirt," said General Officer Commanding (GOC) Srinagar Sub Area, Major General Ajay Das.
He said that though most of the garbage in the city was disposed of, a lot more was needed to be done like repairing street lights, establishment of a drainage system and building car parks, before snowfall in December.
More than 75,000 people were in partly submerged homes in Srinagar, where roads transformed into stagnant canals strewn with wreckage, trash and dead animals during the floods.
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Residents say the army and civic authorities were on war footing to clean the city.
"There was mass destruction and a lot of debris remained after the floods. But the cantonment board started acting at once, the army surveyed the area and engaged in restoration as well. We civilians also assisted them in the process. A lot has been cleaned and a lot more is needed to be done," said a resident, Mohammed Kammaruddin.
Civic authorities have already deployed tippers, robotic arms and excavators, among other machinery alongside hundreds of staff members who have been cleaning roads and garbage.