AGARTALA, November 13 (TIWN): Taking forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative to rid the country of litter and rubbish, All Tripura Merchants Association (ATMA) today cleaned the entire Ujjayanta market area to spread the message of 'Swachh Bharat'.

The members of the association also urged every citizens of the state to do their utmost to make a success of the "Swachh Bharat Abhiyan" (Clean India Project) launched by the Government to ensure hygiene, waste management and sanitation across the country.

 Swachh Bharat or Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Campaign Clean India) is a national level campaign by the Government of India covering 4041 statutory towns to clean the streets, roads and infrastructure of the country. This campaign was officially launched on 2 October 2014 at Rajghat, New Delhi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself wielded broom and cleaned a road.
The launch of the mission comes in the wake of a perception about Indian cities not being very clean. A number of people in rural areas still do not have access to toilets. Some schools in the rural areas also do not have toilets.
According to Census 2011, only 32.70 percent of rural households had access to toilets. According to a UN report released this year, India continues to have the largest number of people in the world defecating in the open.