Over 5 lakh villages declared ODF: Modi

New Delhi:Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said more than 5.5 lakh villages and 600 districts have been declared open defecation free (ODF) and 98 per cent of rural India is now under the sanitation coverage with nine crore households being provided with latrines.

"On October 2, 2014, we embarked on a memorable journey together to clean our country and to get rid of open defecation. Due to the unequivocal support from the people of India, today India is moving towards liberation from open defecation much prior to the target of October 2, 2019, so that we may pay our homage to Bapu on his 150th birth anniversary," Modi said in his 'Mann Ki Baat' monthly radio address. 

In December 2018, more than 50 lakh toilets participated in the 'Clean Beautiful Toilet' or 'Shining Toilet' contests, he said. 

In the contests, people are making their toilets clean and colourful by having them painted. One can find lots of photos of such toilets from Kanyakumari to Kutchh to Kamrup, Assam on the social media, Modi said.

The Prime Minister urged all the sarpanchs and village heads to take a lead in this campaign from their respective panchayats by "sharing their beautiful toilet photos" with him by using #MylzzatGhar on social media.