New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the nation is on a mission to get rid of open defecation before October 2, 2019. 

Addressing the nation in Mann Ki Baat, Modi said that the people of the nation are working together to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary by getting rid of open defecation in the country.

Modi referred to "Swachh Sundar Shauchalaya" a unique contest for clean toilets and said people are making their toilets clean and uploading photos with the #MylzzatGhar.

“Apne kahi sare pratisthith beauty contest ke baare mein suna hoga. Par kya apne toilet chamkane ke contest ke baare mein suna hain? (You may have heard about prestigious beauty contests before. But have you heard of a contest for cleaning toilets?)”, PM Modi inquired. 

The Prime Minister expressed happiness that more than 5,50,000 villages and 600 districts have declared themselves open defecation free.

Sanitation coverage has crossed the 98% limit in rural India whereas toilets have been provided to nearly nine crore households, Modi added.

The Prime Minister, while speaking to a gathering at Madurai, Tamil Nadu on Sunday said that the Swacch Bharat movement has become a people’s movement. “Swachh Bharat has become a people’s movement. Rural sanitation has increased from 38% in 2014 to 98% today. We have built more than 9 crore toilets in this period, out of which 47 Lakh have been made in Tamil Nadu alone,” he said.

“Today, I’m saying it with pride that it was collective efforts that made the ‘Swachch Bharat Mission’ a successful campaign. I was told that a few days ago, in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, over three lakh people came together to work for the sanitation campaign,” Modi said in his radio program.