Gandhi’s birthplace, 170 Gujarat towns declared open-defecation free

NEW DELHI: New initiatives to clean up public places, rewarding the impact-makers and fresh pledges to meet the 2019 target of a clean-India marked the day as the

NEW DELHI: New initiatives to clean up public places, rewarding the impact-makers and fresh pledges to meet the 2019 target of a clean-India marked the day as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed two years on Sunday, on Gandhi Jayanti.

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Porbandar, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, and nearly 170 towns in Gujarat were declared Open-Defection Free (ODF) on the birth anniversary of the ‘Father of the Nation’.

Andhra Pradesh became the second state after Gujarat to declare all its municipalities ODF under the ‘Swachch Bharat’ initiative and earned an incentive of `185.97 crore from the Centre.

“Synchronizing the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan with Gandhiji’s birthday is most appropriate as he had always emphasised on adoption of cleanliness in our daily lives,” President Pranab Mukherjee said as he flagged-off a march for Swachh Bhara tAbhiyan at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

The Prime Minister shared on Twitter pictures and videos of cleanliness drives and awareness campaigns held from Puducherry, to Rajkot, to his constituency Varanasi. “It’s a matter of joy that Porbandar district, where Bapu was born has become open-defecation free today. Kudos to all those who made this happen,” Modi tweeted.

Union ministers, chief ministers and state ministers joined people in the cleanliness drives. Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal helped in cleaning the Kamakhya Temple while Union ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Kiren Rijiju were in action at a school here.

Celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan joined cleanliness campaigns launched by media and corporate houses with the superstar saying if Indians pledge to clean 10 yards around them, soon Modi’s vision can turn in to reality.