Swachh Bharat has played key role in Covid fight: PM
NEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that Centre’s flagship Swachh Bharat mission, a nationwide campaign to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management, has played a key role in the fight against coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Launching a week-long garbage-free India campaign in the run up to Independence Day, called Gandagi Mukt Bharat, the Prime Minister said: “Imagine the situation if a Covid-19-like pandemic had hit us before 2014.
Due to lack of toilets, could we have checked the spread of the infection? Would lockdown been possible when 60% of the population was forced to defecate in open?” the PM said.
He also launched the Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra, an interactive experience centre on the Swachh Bharat Mission at the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti at Rajghat. In his speech, Modi urged children, who attended the event, to follow social distancing norms and wear masks to guard against coronavirus.
The PM also urged officials at the district level to construct toilets in all the villages and to repair the existing facilities during the week.
He said areas where migrant workers are residing should get priority. “Together, we have to move forward ... preparing compost out of dirt, water recycling, getting rid of single-use plastic,” he said.
Highlighting that August 8 is the anniversary of Quit India Movement, a drive launched by Mahatma Gandhi demanding an end to the British rule in India, Modi said that all should work towards ensuring that things that weaken the country quit India.
“Poverty, compulsion to defecate in open, single-use plastic, discrimination, terror and violence, corruption, finding water with great difficulty have to quit India,” he said.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi evoked the clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers at Pangong Tso to take a dig at the Prime Minister. “…We have to take an extra step and also clean the dirt of falsehood. Will the PM tell the truth of the Chinese attack to the nation and kickstart this satyagraha?” he tweeted in Hindi.