Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday paid a surprise visit to the Mandir Marg police station in central Delhi to check how clean it was - and wielded a broom on finding its environs dirty.
On his way to the Valmiki Colony to launch the Clean India campaign, Modi suddenly stopped his car and walked into the police station, a police officer who witnessed it all told IANS.
"The prime minister asked us to maintain a clean environment in addition to carrying out our duties. He told us that if we do not keep our environs clean, how will the Clean India message spread?" a police official told IANS on condition of anonymity.
The official added Modi spoke to them about sanitation and hygiene.
The official said the prime minister himself wielded a broom when he found there was garbage strewn outside the police station premises.
Modi, who reached the police station around 8 a.m., spent close to 20 minutes there checking the sanitation and other facilities.
After Modi left, all the police officials at the station got involved in cleaning the premises, the official said.
The inspection was not planned and took the officials accompanying Modi and others at the police station by surprise.
Modi launched the nationwide Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or Clean India mission Thursday on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary.
