New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi symbolically wielded the broom today to launch a nationwide campaign that aims to clean up India in five years. Modi chose the Valmiki colony in Delhi’s heart – a place which was once home to Mahatma Gandhi – to do the sweeping in a small area for a minute, in the company of party colleagues and officials.
Modi said that the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should clean up the country by 2019, the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Earlier, PM Modi reached Rajghat and paid homage to Father of the Nation’ Mahatma Gandhi. Former PM Manmohan Singh and several other senior leaders were also present at Rajghat.
According to the 2011 Census, only 32.70 percent of rural households had access to toilets. According to a UN report released this year, India continues to have the largest number of people in the world defecating in the open.
Modi has been talking of “Clean India” in his major speeches, and most people feel that personal push being given by him to sanitation would have an impact. Modi has said a “clean India” will be the best tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary in 2019. The Father of the Nation had a penchant for cleanliness in his personal habits and strongly promoted it in society.
A Rashtrapati Bhavan release said the president’s secretariat and attached offices will remain open Oct 2 in forenoon in connection with the Swachh Bharat Mission and officials and residents will be administered the ‘Cleanliness Oath’.
Academic institutions, industry associations and the corporate sector are expected to pitch in enthusiastically in the mission. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in a release said, it has launched ‘Mission-Sanitation of Schools (SoS)’ to strengthen the Swachh Bharat initiative.
Delhi BJP said there there is great enthusiasm among party workers and citizens of Delhi for the mission. Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay said about 30,000 citizens and school children shall take pledge with Modi. DTC has started special bus service from 5 am from all the corners of Delhi to ferry people to the Boat Club.
Bureau Report
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