If the civic broom isn’t at play, trust some to make a “clean sweep”.

Some Santiniketan residents have come together to form a platform to tackle civic issues like garbage disposal, drinking water and pollution in Tagore’s university town that doesn’t have a municipal body.

The Citizens’ Group for Santiniketan has been active for three to four months, with some of its 25 to 30 members chipping in with their own cash for basic equipment like gloves and trash cans.

On Thursday, some of them — including senior citizens — cleaned up the Ratan Pally area on the Visva-Bharati campus and spots near the varsity guesthouse Ratan Kuthi. They promised such drives regularly.

The members said they had formed the platform as Santiniketan, in spite of being a semi-urban zone and a tourist spot, was yet to get a civic body. “A large part falls under Visva-Bharati and the rest under the Ruppur gram panchayat. Neither has adequate infrastructure to provide civic amenities,” said Keya Sarkar, a group member.

The group has identified other areas, such as wastage of water from the Visva staff quarters. “We plan to make Santiniketan free of plastic and garbage,” said octogenarian Sujit Sarkar.

Vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty called the initiative “really good”. The deputy chief of Ruppur panchayat, Ranendranath Sarkar, said his body “does not have large funds like municipalities” to back the efforts.

Sushanta Bhakat, chairman of the Trinamul-run Bolpur municipality that adjoins Santiniketan, said the campus zone would soon be brought under the civic body.