Mumbai, Jan 18 (IANS): Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday directed the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to deep-clean at least three important temples daily in each civic ward of Mumbai till the January 22 ‘Prana Pratishtha’ at the Ayodhya Ram Temple.

An official said here on Thursday that apart from the cleaning, Shinde has also ordered illumination of all temples to mark the occasion.

BMC Commissioner, IS Chahal, has given the temple clean-up orders and also called upon all citizens to join this special cleanliness drive as volunteers at the temples in their respective areas and in each of the 24 BMC Wards.

There are an estimated 4,500 big and small Hindu temples in Mumbai, including very old and magnificent ones that attract millions of devotees daily.

Incidentally, for the last few weeks, Shinde has been going around the city and leading deep-clean drives at major public places, at least one day every week for each BMC Ward.

The BMC has laid down a standard operation procedure covering 61 points for the entire cleanliness campaign in the city.

Seeing the success of the campaign, the CM who is currently in Davos, Switzerland, has also directed that a ‘Maha Swachhata Abhiyan’ should be implemented in all districts, civic bodies and other local-self-government bodies in Maharashtra.

In Mumbai, three major temples in each Ward shall be selected at the local level and then an intensive cleaning drive shall be carried out there with the participation of the temple authorities and the local population.