He said ever since the government launched the Swachh Bharat Mission in October 2014, over 1,80,000 villages across 130 districts have been declared ODF and access to toilets in rural households rose from 42 per cent to 63 per cent.
Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have been declared as ODF, while states like Gujarat, Haryana, Uttarkhand and some others are moving forward in that direction, PM Modi said.
"75 per cent villages along the banks of Ganga in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal have been declared as ODF.
"Waste management programme has been planned so that village's garbage does not pollute the river. I hope the banks of Ganga become ODF at the earliest," the PM said.
He was speaking after inaugurating an exhibition titled 'Swachchhagrah - Bapu Ko Karyanjali - Ek Abhiyan, Ek Pradarshani' to mark the 100 years of Mahatma Gandhi's Champaran satyagraha, his first battle against the British rule in India.
Modi said the dream of a clean India envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi remains unrealised after independence and apart from paying him tributes, the country should also work to realise that.
"If Gandhiji undertook satyagraha to free the nation (from British rule), it is the time to undertake swachchhagrah to wage a war against uncleanliness," he said.
Modi also announced starting of a National Cleanliness Centre in Delhi that will impart information about cleanliness and new technologies pertaining to it.
Emphasising on generating wealth from waste, he urged the countrymen to explore whether construction waste can become a means to earn livelihood by generating electricity out of it or if it can be recycled and re-used.
"Almost all government schools, there are different toilets for girls and boys. Chapters of cleanliness have been added in schools," he said.
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