President Murmu exhorts countrymen to build a Swachh Bharat, Swasth Bharat, Vikasit Bharat

Addressing a function organised to felicitate the ‘safai mitras’ (cleanliness volunteers) in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Ms Murmu said that “Only cleanliness can make the country healthy and developed”.

All the countrymen should strive in a coordinated manner to build India as a developed nation, she said.

She praised Madhya Pradesh for achieving many milestones in the field of sanitation.

Ms Murmu said that Madhya Pradesh has achieved a leading position in the field of urban and rural sanitation.

Many cities of Madhya Pradesh have been declared the best cities for cleanliness.

Indore city has been declared the cleanest city in the country for the seventh consecutive time. Bhopal has earned the tag of cleanest capital city.

She said that in the last ten years, cleanliness in India has become a national movement. In the second phase of the cleanliness campaign, we have to achieve the goal of complete cleanliness in the country by 2025.

Work is in progress towards total freedom from open defecation, besides building an excellent solid and liquid waste management in the country, she said and added that we have to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi’s ideal of cleanliness.

She recounted how she started her career, working for cleanliness and said that “I was vice president in the municipal council and used to go to the wards and work for cleanliness and make people aware about the importance of cleanliness”.

She also laid the foundation stone for the proposed Ujjain- Indore six-lane road, estimated to cost Rs 1692 crore.

Ms Murmu recalled the rich cultural heritage of Ujjain and said that Avantika, as the historical city was known in ancient times, is the holy and pious city of Baba Mahakal, the presiding deity of Mahakaleshwar shrine in Ujjain.

The Gupta period was the golden age of Indian history and at that time Ujjain was an important city of India with an ancient tradition of culture and civilisation.

Around 2,000 years ago, Ujjain was the Centre of international trade. The great poet Kalidas has given a wonderful depiction of the vastness and grandeur of Ujjain in his widely acclaimed work ‘Meghdoot’.

She also addressed the convocation ceremony in the Devi Ahilya Bai University in the neighbouring city of Indore before winding up her two-day visit to the state.