Lakhs of government employees, schoolchildren along with politicians, celebrities and common people today took part in the launch of a massive countrywide cleanliness drive led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who invoked Mahatma Gandhi's vision of a "clean and developed" India.
On a national holiday to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, central and state government employees turned up at offices across the country to take a pledge of cleanliness as part of Modi government's 'Swachh Bharat' campaign and sweep public buildings, parks, schools, railway platforms and roads.
"This is inspired my patriotism not politics," the Prime Minister said as he took the lead by wielding a broom and swept the pavement in Valmiki Basti, a colony of sanitation workers here.
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President Pranab Mukerjee launched the campaign at Kirnahar Shib Chandra High School, where he studied, in West Bengal, and said every Indian should devote two hours daily or at least 100 hours annually in cleanliness drive.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that Rs 20 lakh per annum will be allocated to each village panchayat for the Clean India campaign.
In the states, the Chief Ministers and Governors started the drive by administering the pledge and picking up broom themselves. BJP workers too organised various events across the country to spread awareness about the mission.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy set the campaign going by inaugurating the plastic removal drive in Thiruvananthpuram.
In Bihar, Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, Union Ministers Ramvilas Paswan, Ravishankar Prasad and Upendra Kushwaha and actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha took up the broom at various places in the state.
Paswan and Kushwaha swept the platform of Hajipur Railway station, while Union Law minister Ravishankar Prasad, accompanied by General Manager of East Central Railway (ECR) zone Madhuresh Kumar took part in the campaign at Patna junction station.
Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, his cabinet colleagues, legislators and top officials, wearing white headgears, swept the main road in the Mahatma Gandhi Square to mark the beginning of Cleanliness Week and also launching of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
It is for the first time that all employees from the level of peons to Secretary were called to the office on 'Gandhi Jayanti', which is otherwise a national holiday, to be part of the 'Clean India' campaign. There are about 31 lakh central government employees across the country.
Banners displaying message of maintaining cleanliness at work place and surroundings were put up on the central government office buildings and along the road sides to encourage people.
