Agra, Nov 18 (IANS): Hundreds of river activists and volunteers of NGOs on Sunday joined a massive cleanliness drive opposite the Etmauddaula tomb to lift garbage and idols immersed in the Yamuna.

River Connect Campaign member Devashish Bhattacharya told IANS that regular cleaning of Yamuna was necessary to save heritage monuments along the river banks from Babar's Ram Bagh, Etmauddaula, Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal.

The garbage that has accumulated on the river bed has become a breeding ground for all kinds of mosquitoes and insects which damage the surface of the monuments.

Volunteers of India Rising cleaned the area and painted the boundary wall of Etmauddaula viewpoint from where foreign tourists shoot pictures of the river and the Taj.

Local corporator Anurag Chaturvedi told IANS: "We are daily cleaning up the area but the problem of garbage cleaning is so huge that we need more men and machinery on a regular basis. However, there has been a marked difference as night cleaning has helped a lot."

The Yamuna flows through Agra, India's most popular tourist destination.