Not following PM Narendra Modi's footsteps in cleanliness campaign: Tarun Gogoi

GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today clarified that he was not following the footsteps of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by launching the 'Clean Assam Campaign' but was involved in cleanliness programmes since his school days.

"I am not following the footsteps of PM Modi in Clean Assam Campaign but inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. I joined Kalyani Sangha (a social organisation) when I was a school student way back in 1951 and swept the Sweepers' Colony in Jorhat," the chief minister tweeted on the occasion of the launch of 'Pariskar Aru Seuj Asom Khajagota Abhijan'.

"When I became chief minister, I wielded the broom and swept the streets of Guwahati during the Clean Guwahati Campaign in 2012. Then I took part in the Clean Assam Campaign that kicked off in Guwahati on October 5, 2014," he said.

Launching the the week-long 'Pariskar Aru Seuj Asom Khajagota Abhijan (Cleanliness and Green Assam Awareness Campaign)', the chief minister announced a wage hike of Rs 200 per month to those engaged in cleaning job so that the 'Clean Assam Campaign' was taken up in a vigorous way, an official release said.

Gogoi had yesterday in another tweet praised Modi's ambitious 'Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana' (SAGY), but said it would take more than 50 years to cover six lakh villages in the country.

"The Yojana needs to be taken up in a vigorous manner if we want to see 'acche din' and a clean India," he had said.

Gogoi had earlier welcomed Modi's Clean India campaign and took part in a cleanliness operation in Guwahati, following which Modi had praised him.