Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged people to work for preventing water pollution during immersion of Ganesh idols by ensuring that plastic and other waste does not go into sea.
PM Modi is on the one-day tour of Maharashtra which he began by taking darshan of Lord Ganesh in suburban Vile Parle in Mumbai.
"Just like Lokmanya Tilak had said that ''Swarajya'' is my birth right. As we are approaching 75 years of our independence, we should say ''surajya'' is our duty," the prime minister said.
The prime minister was addressing a gathering at Jio World Centre in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) after inaugurating three metro lines for Mumbai. He also inaugurated a state-of-the-art metro coach, the first metro coach under ''Make in India''.
"I would like to give a suggestion for ''One Indian-One Pledge''. We need to protect environment and do away with single-use plastic. We have to avoid water pollution. During Ganesh visarjan, heaps of plastic and other waste go into sea. We have to stop that," PM Modi said.
The prime minister said the NDA government has taken several "historic and unprecedented decisions" during the first 100 days of his second tenure.
He also said the time has come to implement the "One Indian-One Pledge" initiative.
The annual Ganesh festival, the trademark of Maharashtra, is held in the Hindu calender month of 'Bhadrapad' for 10/11 days.
For "Vibrant Democracy": PM Modi On "One Nation One Election" Plan Cop Asks Man Not To Use Foul Words During Ganesh Idol Immersion In Gujarat, Stabbed PM Modi To Visit US For Quad Summit, Attend UN Assembly From September 21-24 Daughter, 26, Died Of Overwork At EY, No One Attended Funeral: Woman's Letter Video Shows Explosion At Funeral Of Hezbollah Member Killed In Pager Blast 9 Dead, 300 Injured As Walkie-Talkies Explode In Hezbollah Units In Lebanon Panel On Simultaneous Polls Studied Process In Sweden, Germany, Japan US Woman Killed Husband, Buried Body, And Impersonated Him On Social Media Minister Moves Court Over Bengaluru Civic Body's Taxes, BJP Attacks Congress Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.