Around 1 cr citizens join Swachhata Hi Seva campaign

New Delhi, Sept 23: The nationwide Swachhata Hi Seva campaign, which is close to completing two weeks, has registered a record participation of around one crore citizens, who showed a great deal of enthusiasm while taking part in different cleanliness activities across the country. In Chennai, to keep the city 'clean and green', a battery of Judges from the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court joined hands with the public, students, officials of the district administration, city corporation, police, Public Works and Income Tax departments in a cleaning drive along the Vaigai river. In Maharashtra, 430 Gram Panchayats have been declared ODF and over 58,000 toilets have been constructed since September 15, said the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. World famous sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik used his award money to construct two toilets for fishermen in Puri, Odisha after receiving a personal letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to engage with the cause of swachhata. A young girl from Bihar created a song on Swachhata, which is drawing attention of thousands. In Jharkhand, swachhata sentiment was spread to educational institutions by appealing to the universities to clean their campuses. The week also saw significant newspaper articles on swachhata from opinion leaders across industries and sectors. Media also played a supportive role through channels like DD Sahayadri, which started a special series on 'Swachhata Hi Seva,' to be broadcast everyday till October 2. UNI