106-Year-Old Kunwar Bai, Oldest Mascot of PM Modi's Swachh Bharat Campaign, Passes Away
The oldest mascot was felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for her efforts to make her village open defecation free in Chhattisgarh’s Rajandgaon district.
Chhattisgarh, February 23: Kunwar Bai, who was chosen as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan mascot in 2016, passed away at the age of 106 on Friday. The oldest mascot was felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for her efforts to make her village open defecation free in Chhattisgarh’s Rajandgaon district. Kunwar Bai, who hailed from Dhamtari, had sold-off her 8-10 goats to build two toilets at her home for around Rs 22,000. The mascot has been spreading awareness about the importance of using toilets to other villagers.
As per reports, the centenarian breathed her last at 10:40 AM following prolonged illness. The 106-year-old Kunwar Bai was admitted in Raipur’s Ambedkar Hospital on the directives of Chief Minister Raman Singh. As per reports, Kunwar Bai had wished to meet PM Modi and CM Raman Singh. As per reports by TOI, Kunwar Bai was admitted on February 19. Her blood pressure and sugar were too high as she hadn’t consumed food for past several days. As per reports, Kunwar Bai was too weak and couldn’t speak.
The Prime Minister had also urged media to spread Kunwar Bai’s story all over the country. “An elderly woman of 104 years who stays in a remote village, does not watch TV or read papers, but the message of building toilets under clean India mission somehow reached her. She sold off her goats to build toilet at home and also encouraged others from the village to build,” PM Modi had said.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 23, 2018 06:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).