New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday wielded a broom to sweep clean the roads outside a colony and a police station in the national capital as he launched the country’s biggest-ever cleanliness drive “Swachh Bharat Mission” at a cost of Rs 2 lakh crore and nominated nine eminent citizens to spread awareness and continue the cleaning chain.
Launching the mission officially from a specially erected dais on Rajpath, the Prime Minister asserted that Swachchh Bharat was “beyond politics” and was inspired by patriotism, while acknowledging the efforts made to clean the country by previous governments at the Centre and in the states.
Before the formal launch, Mr Modi went to Rajghat to pay his respects to Mahatma Gandhi and then to Valmiki basti where he cleaned a road that leads to the basti. Mr Modi also cleaned the road outside Mandir Marg police station.
Invoking Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri, Mr Modi administered a pledge to an audience comprising the general public, students and VVIPs which says everyone should give at least 100 hours a year to the the clean India campaign.
