Clean sweep for town called Dirt

Town of Dirt defies its name

The Russian town of Gryazi - which means Dirt in Russian - has won the accolade for the cleanest town in its region.

Nobody knows for certain how Gryazi got its name, but residents of the town in the far west region of Lipetsk believe it dates back to the time of Peter the Great, who ruled Russia in the early 18th century.

They say the Tsar was passing through the town when his carriage got stuck in the mud. In a rage, he named it "Gryazi".

And according to some locals, the town merited its name as recently as the 1970s.

They say that it's not the name that makes a town, but its people Russian Ren TV

"What was it like? It was dirty. When the town was dirty, it deserved its name," says Irina Osina, who arrived in Gryazi 30 years ago.

Moscow's Ren television says that at one time Irina's home in the centre of the town was surrounded by a bog. Now it is an impressive building overlooking an elegant street.

"Dropping litter here is not looked upon favourably," according to the TV report.

Community pride

It was Mayor Vladimir Roshchybkin who declared war on dirt, and the locals have dubbed him "the town's chief cleaner".

A local pensioner said she regularly sweeps the streets

Everything began with an annual two-month spring cleaning, says the television report, adding that nowadays, "every Friday is an official public cleaning day".

Mr Roshchybkin divided the town into zones and appointed people responsible for each area's cleanliness. Both private and state enterprises contribute to the cleaning.

According to one female shop worker: "Everyone has their own area near their company. We clean up near our shop. We make sure that it is tidy all the time and not just on cleaning days. We try to do it all the time."

"We sweep the roads," says a woman pensioner. "I sweep my road so that it's clean and I plant nice yellow flowers."

Mr Roshchybkin's efforts "have not been in vain", according to the report.

"Gryazi now has a proud feel to it."

For the fifth time, the town has won the title of the cleanest in the region and residents have stopped feeling ashamed.

"They say that it's not the name that makes a town, but its people."

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.