Ahmedabad: On the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday declared India is now an ‘open defecation free’ (ODF) country.
“I am satisfied that on the occasion of Gandhi at 150, we are witnessing the fulfilment of his dream of ‘Swachh Bharat’. I feel lucky that on this occasion when India has successfully stopped open defecation, I’m here at the ashram,” the Prime Minister wrote in the visitor’s book at Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram on Wednesday.
“The world is impressed by our success on the open defecation-free front, and is giving awards to us,” said Modi, declaring that the country has achieved cleanliness in urban and rural areas thanks to the government’s push to build toilets.
“Today, rural India has declared itself open defecation-free. This is a great achievement of the Swachh Bharat movement which has people’s participation,” said the Prime Minister.
“In 60 months, 600 million people have been given access to toilets, more than 110 million toilets have been built. The whole world is amazed to hear this,” he added.
