ABOUT 300 to 400 residents at the AU2 Flats in Taman Keramat came together on Sunday to carry out a gotong-royong to clean their neighbourhood.

Its community leader Mohamad Halim Mohamad Said said most of the residents had been doing their bit to clean up and refurbish the flats from as far back as two weeks before the “Love My Drain” campaign.

“Some have already been cutting grass and trees, painting the staircase and cleaning the small drains here for two weeks before the gotong-royong.

“This is the highest turnout we have received for a gotong-royong effort,” he said when met recently.

He said they encouraged more residents to participate by offering free meals, certificate of participation and prizes for different categories of the event.

“We have 50 hampers to give out to those who catch the most rats, have the cleanest block and the highest number of participants in a block,” he added.

This is the first drain clean-up and education activities organised by the downstream local community as part of the River of Life Public Outreach Project programme.

The River of Life project is a public outreach programme with the local community inhabiting the area along the river corridor, to create awareness on the need for cleanliness efforts.

Global Environment Centre River Care Programme officer Jagedeswari Marriappan said the campaign was especially important to educate the community on their roles in keeping drains clean to ensure rubbish did not channel into the Klang River.

“According to the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ), 90 to 100 rubbish-filled bags are collected from the river daily.

“We have idenfied the flats here as one of the most important areas to be part of the campaign because the drains lead directly to the river,” she said.

Resident Johari Ahmad, who is the secretary for Block N, said the residents in the block chipped in to buy plants including misai kucing, red chilli and blueberry to beautify their block.

“The people staying in our block are very close to one another.

“So we always work and help each other,” he said.

His wife Zaiton Mohd Amin, 62, said the women would take turns to care and water the plants.