NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched “Swachhata Hi Seva” campaign and even picked up a broom at a school named after Dalit icon B R Ambedkar as part of “shram dan” for the movement which, he said, would transform lives across the country. Raising concern over the increasing generation of municipal waste, the PM said ‘swachhta’ is a habit that needed to be inculcated.“Had anybody imagined that more than 450 districts would be open defecation free (ODF) in four years or that 20 states and Union Territories would be open-defecation free in four years,” he said, calling it a historic day.In a nearly-two-hour video interaction with several personalities, including UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Amitabh Bachchan and Ratan Tata, Modi said sanitation coverage in India increased to over 90% from 40% in the four years since “Swachh Bharat” (Clean India) project was launched.The intensive “Swachhta Hi Seva” campaign will continue till October 2, marking the beginning of Mahatma Gandhi ’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations. It was Gandhiji’s dream to have a ‘Clean India’, the PM said.Modi gave the credit of almost three-fold increase in toilet coverage to women, youth, defence personnel, celebrities and corporate houses. “Just building toilets won’t make India clean. Providing facilities for toilets, dustbin and setting up of facilities to process waste are only the means. Cleanliness is a habit that needs to be imbibed. This a change that people of India are contributing into,” he said.Soon after launching the campaign, Modi drove down to Ambedkar Senior Secondary School at Paharganj. Cabinet minister, BJP CMs and celebrities undertook cleanliness activities.Lauding the role of women in this campaign, Modi said, “The contribution of India’s Nari Shakti in the Swachh Bharat Mission is immense. Youngsters are ambassadors of social change. The way they have furthered the message of cleanliness is commendable.”He spoke to people all across states and also interacted with Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel involved in cleaning Pangong Lake and its surroundings in Leh, besides religious and spiritual figures, including Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and Mata Amritanandamayi The PM also interacted with Sikh religious figures from Patna Sahib gurudwara and Muslim custodians of Ajmer Sharif.