Ujjain (MP), Sep 19 (PTI) President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday said cleanliness only will make India healthy and developed and appealed to the people to come forward and take a step in this direction.
Addressing the Safai Mitra Sammelan in Ujjain, Murmu also praised Madhya Pradesh's Indore city for remaining on top in the cleanliness survey for the seventh time in a row and Bhopal for being the cleanest state capital in the country.
"It gives me immense happiness to honour safai mitras (sanitation workers). Cleanliness only will make the country healthy and developed. By honouring safai mitras we are hounouring ourselves," she said.
Murmu appealed to the people to take a step forward for making the country "swachh, swasthya aur viksit" (clean, healthy and developed).
The Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) has become a nationwide movement in the last 10 years and resulted in comprehensive changes in the country, she said.
The campaign raised awareness towards cleanliness among the people and their behaviour towards swachhata has changed a lot, the president said.
She also congratulated the government for making a provision of toilets for girl students in schools, which has resulted in raising their literacy level.
On the occasion, Murmu felicitated five safai mitras, including four women, and also laid the foundation stone for the Ujjain-Indore six-lane road, to be built at the cost of Rs 1,692 crore.