New Delhi, Aug 27 - 'It's a rainy day, posters will be soggy so rip them off!' - touting this as their mantra to make the national capital clean, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Thursday said it managed to remove 8,000 posters in a single day.

Attempting to make Delhi's walls free from posters and handbills, MCD had Monday launched a drive to rid the city of posters and declared Aug 24 as Poster Free Day.

According to Additional Deputy Commissioner Amiya Chandra, 400 MCD staffers in 12 zones in coordination with 14 traders associations and several resident welfare associations (RWA) swung into action and were 'very successful'.

'This is the first time we have marked a day to ensure a crackdown against defacement of public property and the drive was very successful. The staff kept count that 8,000 posters were removed,' Chandra told IANS.

'In addition, 30 police complaints were registered against regular offenders. We plan to take these cases to the next level and follow up on the prosecution,' he added.

The campaign, Municipal Commissioner K.S. Mehra said, was launched 'to make the city look clean and beautiful ahead of the Commonwealth Games scheduled in October 2010'.

Interestingly, there is a reason behind the timing of MCD's defacement drive.