Prime Minister Narendra Modi felicitates 104-year-old Kunwar Bai for building toilets in her home, in Chhattisgarh’s Dhamtari district on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi felicitates 104-year-old Kunwar Bai for building toilets in her home, in Chhattisgarh’s Dhamtari district on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday bowed down in reverence before a 104-year-woman who sold off her goats to build toilets in her home in a remote village of Chhattisgarh.
Mr Modi became emotional when he felicitated the centurion Kunwar Bai of Barari village in Dhamtari district, nearly 100 km from state capital of Raipur, while launching the Rurban Mission that envisages development of a cluster of villages identified in 300 pockets in the country into urban Centres, here.
Addressing her as “Ma Kunwar Bai”, Mr Modi observed, “This uneducated 104-year-old woman of a remote village who doesn’t watch TV or reads newspaper, somehow gets to know of the clean India mission plan. She sold off her goats to build toilets at her home and also encourages her fellow villagers to follow suit. Is it not a sign of India undergoing transformation ”
Kunwar Bai, who sold 8-10 goats she owned for for a total cost of Rs 22,000 to build two toilets in her home, and encouraged other villagers to build toilets in their home, thus turning Barari, an island-like village, open defecation-free.
“I would like to tell the media that you don’t cover me, but highlight Ma Kunwar Bai’s initiative,” the PM said,.
“Ma Kunwari Bai with a young thought in mind and spirit, is an inspiration for everyone, particularly the youth,” PM Modi added her on Sunday.
Mr Modi also hailed residents of two blocks in Rajnandgaon district, Ambagarh Chowk and Churia, for becoming open defecation-free zones with toilets build in every home.
