Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a cleaning sesson at Varanasi's Assi Ghat. (Press Trust of India)
On a day's visit to his constituency Varanasi to mark the Good Governance Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced another batch of nine names for the Clean India campaign.
Among them were former police officer Kiran Bedi, stand-up comic Kapil Sharma, former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, and classical dancer Sonal Mansingh.
There were four organisations on his list - including two media groups, the India Today Group - including Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Arun Poorie and the employees - and the Eenadu Media. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Mumbai Dabbawala Association were the other two.
The Prime Minister inspected the Assi Ghat, where he had wielded a spade back in November to launch the Clean Ganga Mission. On that occasion too, he had tagged nine people, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, for the Clean India Campaign.
Today, he also helped clean the lanes around Assi Ghat and said the condition in the area was much improved.
"When I had come here in November, we had promised to clean this place up," he said. "The civic body and the government have taken this programme seriously. We can see the difference. The (Assi) Ghat is looking cleaner."
The Prime Minister had kicked off the Swachh Bharat, or the Clean India campaign, on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. On the occasion, he had swept a narrow street in a North Delhi neighbourhood and picked up the broom again during a surprise check at a police station.
Already, host of celebrities have joined the drive. PM Modi had started roping in celebrities with his invitation to nine of them, each of whom, in turn, are to name nine others to carry on the campaign.