Ahmedabad: On the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday declared India to be an 'open defecation-free' (ODF) country.

"I am satisfied that on the occasion of Gandhi at 150, we are witnessing the fulfilment of his dream of 'Swachh Bharat'. I feel lucky that on this occasion, when India has successfully stopped open defecation, I'm here at the ashram," read the Prime Minister's message in the visitor's book at Sabarmati Ashram here. "World impressed by our success on open defecation-free front, giving awards to us," said Modi.

Earlier in the day, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh had told ANI that an open defecation free India is a big achievement on the landmark occasion.

"No one was ready to believe earlier that India will become open defecation free in such a short period of time. Now, it has become a reality. This is a very big achievement, especially on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi," he had said.

"In 60 months, 600 million people have been given access to toilets, more than 110 million toilets have been built. The whole world is amazed to hear this," Modi said.

Modi said sanitation, conservation of environment and animals were dear to Gandhiji. "Plastic is a major threat to all of them, so we have to achieve the goal to eradicate 'single-use plastic' from the country by 2022," he said.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

Share Via