Islamabad, August 8: Imran Khan's 'Naya Pakistan' is apparently taking cue from Narendra Modi's 'New India' as the former has launched a campaign akin to India's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The newly elected Pakistan Prime Minister, on Monday, kickstarted the Clean Green Pakistan campaign, intended to improve the cleanliness and sanitation standard in the nation.

Khan, while addressing the media on Monday, said cleanliness is one of the most challenging issues before Pakistan. He said clean water, air and sanitation are the fundamental right of the citizens. Human Feces on Rise in San Francisco: This US City Needs a Campaign Akin to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

The campaign, Khan said, would be implemented at the tehsil-level, with the Ministry of Climate Change keenly observing its implementation.

Notably, the WHO report last year ranked Pakistan 150th among 189 nations on human development index. Another UN report listed three Pakistan cities among the top 10 dirtiest in the world.

The report red-flagged the growing vehicular pollution in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Islamabad, which is rapidly deteriorating the air quality index.

Cue taken from PM Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan?

Four years ago, when Modi was elected to power in India, one of the first major decisions taken by his government was to launch a nationwide cleanliness campaign.

The success of the campaign could be gauged by the fact that 11 crore household toilets were build in the last four years, whereas, nearly 80 per cent of the nation's towns and villages have been declared open-defecation free (ODF).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 08, 2018 09:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).