New Delhi: Health Minister Harsh Vardhan yesterday urged people to help in keeping public areas clean after Ramlila and Durga Puja.
“Fellow citizens. Please don’t kill spirit of Swacch Bharat Andolan (Clean India Campaign). Please help clean up public areas after Ramlila and Durga Puja,” the health minister said in a tweet.
The comment comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his Clean India Campaign.
The nine-day Shardiya Navratri, a major festival in most parts of north and eastern India, culminates in Vijaya Dashami or Dussehra.
The festival is celebrated by setting up Durga Puja pandals and also by staging Ramlila depicting the epic “the Ramayana”.
He also urged the people to resolve to conquer lifestyle-related health problems and wage a war against maternal mortality.
“On this Dussehra, let us resolve to conquer health problems caused by bad lifestyle. A social movement over good health will make India strong. “...Let’s embark upon a crusade against child/maternal mortality and preventable diseases,” he said.
Kamal Haasan invites millions
for clean drive
Chennai: Actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan, who was nominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to work towards a cleaner India, humbly accepted the invitation and invited nine million people to make this a “nation building” initiative.
Modi Thursday also nominated actors Priyanka Chopra, Salman Khan and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar among others.
Modi has said the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched Thursday should clean up the country by 2019, the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
“I thank our honourable PM for naming me among this august list. I don’t think it’s a new duty I’ve been appointed but it’s a recognition of what I’ve already been doing. I invite nine million more people,” Kamal Haasan said in a video.
“I have been doing this cleansing for the last two decades through my fans who have converted the fan clubs into social service organizations. My work continues and this is not a public relations exercise. It’s a public work I’m part of,” he added. Haasan said he will “pursue this exercise not for any political philosophy”.
IANs
