PM lauds ITBP jawan for making his village in Himachal ODF

New Delhi [India], Oct 30 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lauded Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) jawan Vikas Thakur, who contributed hard earned salary to make his village in Himachal Pradesh open defecation free. Addressing the nation in the 25th edition of his 'Mann Ki Baat' radio programme, he spoke at length about the states on the road to becoming open defecation free. "First, Sikkim was open defecation free, now Himachal is defecation free. Kerala will be open defecation free on 1st November," said the Prime Minister. "A jawan of ITBP, Sri Vikas Thakur, was from a very small village named Baghana in Singur district of Himachal Pradesh. When he went home during his leave from duty, he witnessed a Gram Sabha in progress. Discussions were going on about constructing toilets," he added. Prime Minister Modi further said the jawan discovered some families of the village couldn't even afford to build a toilet because they were poor, adding he decided to solve their problems. "His patriotism was not just limited to killing enemies for the country. He signed a cheque for Rs. 57,000 and handed it to the village panchayat. He asked the panchayat to pay one thousand to each of the 57 houses and build toilets to declare their village defecation free," he added. He concluded that sublime gestures of people like Thakur have made Himachal Pradesh an ODF state. Similarly, he mentioned how Kerala, Gujarat and Haryana are on the path to be declared open defecation free. (ANI)