The Prime Minister exhorts people to fulfil Gandhi’s dream of a clean India

Launching the “Swachhata Hi Seva” campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said all sections of society and every part of the country have joined the cleanliness drive as he noted few would have thought that 9 crore toilets would be built and 4.5 lakh villages declared open defecation free in four years.

The “cleanliness is service” campaign will continue till Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary on October 2, with Mr. Modi asking people to rededicate themselves to fulfilling the father of the nation’s dream of a clean India during an interactive programme.

The Prime Minister spoke to groups of people from across the country besides several religious figures, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and personalities including Amitabh Bachchan and Ratan Tata through video-conference in which they shared details of their work for the campaign.

Had anybody imagined that more than 450 districts would be open defecation-free [ODF] in four years or that 20 States and Union Territories would be open defecation-free in four years,” he said, calling it a historic day today as he launched the fortnight-long campaign.Mr. Adityanath said Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous and among the most poor States, would be OFD by October 2, 2018 as per a baseline survey of the clean India campaign. He said that his government is working to ensure that every family has a toilet by October 2019.

Mr. Modi lauded Mr. Adityanath for his government’s efforts.

Swachhta hi Seva 2019 launch details

After the launch of Swachhta hi Seva 2019, PM Modi visited the Pashudhan Arogya Vigyan Mela, where cows were being operated to remove plastic waste from their stomachs. The Prime Minister also interacted with a group of women from Uttar Pradesh who segregate plastic waste into recyclables and non-recyclables and also participated in the segregation activity himself

The Prime Minister spoke to people in States such as Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana. He also interacted with Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel involved in cleaning Pangong Lake and its surroundings in Leh, besides religious and spiritual figures like Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and Mata Amritanandamayi.He also interacted with Sikh religious figures from Patna Sahib gurudwara and Muslim custodians of Ajmer Sharif shrine among others.Mr. Modi said those working for the cleanliness campaign would be remembered like freedom fighters in the times to come and would be known as true heirs to Gandhi.

Mr. Modi said his government is working for “waste to wealth” and sought contributions from everybody. The government alone cannot do it, he added.