Hundreds of students and volunteers armed with brooms and shovels Sunday spruced up the area around Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat here at the launch of a think tank's national cleanliness campaign.

For its "Come, Clean India" campaign to promote cleanliness at public places, Delhi-based Imagindia brought together students, government officials and volunteers from various walks of life.

"It's going to be a year-long campaign, where we will try to sensitise people on the need to have clean public places. It is important not just for citizens, but also for the reputation of a country that has so many tourists coming in every year," Rami Renthlei, from Imagindia, told IANS.

The campaign was launched at the main VIP entrance of Rajghat. Nearly 25 students from the National Cadet Corps and over 100 volunteers and students from Delhi University and Imagindia participated in the campaign.

The volunteers would target the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here March 13.

"We would be heading towards other cities, including Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore, followed by smaller towns. Our targets for cleanliness would be railway stations, bus stops, government hospitals and tourist spots," added Renthlei.

The campaign, designed to run over 20 Sundays in a year all across the country, will rely on 100 volunteers at each designated venue.