President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday declared urban Maharashtra ‘open defecation free’ (ODF) at an event organised in Mumbai and…
(Photo: PIB)
President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday declared urban Maharashtra ‘open defecation free’ (ODF) at an event organised in Mumbai and exhorted that a healthy India will be built on the foundations of a clean India.
Addressing the gathering, Kovind said: “A healthy and prosperous India will be built only on the foundations of a clean India. Such success is possible only with the cooperation and participation of all stakeholders.”
The president congratulated the Maharashtra government, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as well as all members of the ‘Swachh Maharashtra Team’ on achieving the feat and keeping to the commitment of a two-year deadline, set on 2 October, 2015.
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The President said that the declaration of ‘ODF’ Urban Maharashtra is particularly relevant for the state as 49 per cent of its people live in urban areas.
“Smart cities also require smart sanitation and smart waste management. It was a matter of great satisfaction that the government is focusing on sustainability of this successful campaign,” he said.
He hoped that just as the state has been successful in realising the goal of ‘ODF’, it would also realise the goal of ‘managing 100 per cent waste’.
“Tomorrow is Gandhi Jayanti and Maharashtra has paid a befitting tribute to Gandhiji by declaring urban Maharashtra open defecation free today,” Kovind said.
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