Ranchi, Oct 7 : Garhwa, a non-descript town in Jharkhand has joined the list of open defecation centres, adding yet another success story to the Clean India Mission.

The Swachh Bharat Mission, launched on October 2, 2014, has achieved many milestones and landmarks in the past 10 years.

As the citizens make cleanliness and hygiene a part of their lives, towns and villages have become cleaner and greener over the years.

Today, the residents of Garhwa, from both urban and rural pockets are expressing joy and jubilation over their city being declared open defecation-free.

Shankar Prasad Soni, speaking to IANS, said that this campaign has had a great impact on the people.

"Earlier, the situation in terms of cleanliness was quite bad. Today, people have become very aware about cleanliness," he added.

'People are now paying a lot of attention to cleanliness. Today there has been about 60 per cent change as compared to earlier," he said.

Rajiv Bhardwaj told IANS, "We always travel by train. Earlier we used to see people sitting in queues on the side of the railway tracks in the morning to defecate. Now such cases are seen occasionally. Earlier people used to defecate by sitting on the side of village roads and intersections. Because of this, foul smell would spread throughout the village. It had become difficult to enter the village. But after the cleanliness campaign started by PM Modi, awareness has spread among the people. Both women and men have understood that now toilets should be built in their homes and there is a need to stop spreading filth."

Another local person said, "I am from a rural area. Earlier during the rainy season, water used to accumulate in the villages. Due to this, people used to go to the streets to defecate. This caused a lot of trouble for the people passing by. Diseases used to spread among people due to bad smell, but now when toilets have been built in every house, the entire village has started staying clean."

He showered praise on PM Modi for launching the path-breaking scheme 10 years ago.

"Wherever water accumulated in the village, there was filth all around. The entire village is being cleaned up now because of the Clean India Mission, as started by PM Modi. The situation in cities regarding cleanliness has also become better. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has brought considerable benefits in the last 10 years. We should work more on this."

/IANS