Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the Paharganj Police Station in Delhi
Home Minister Rajnath Singh made a series of unannounced visits this morning - at Delhi's main railway station and a nearby police station - to check on whether the public spaces were clean.
The police station got a passing grade from the minister. "There was a small issue at the Sulabh (public) Toilet (at the railway station). We called the official and gave him the necessary instructions," he said.
Mr Singh also visited the office of the North Delhi Municipal corporation in the afternoon, and reportedly found it to dirty. Two officials, including the Deputy Commissioner in-charge of Connaught Place zone and a sanitary inspector, have since been removed.
Ministers in the union government have been conducting surprise checks since Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a Clean India campaign which urges citizens and officials to cooperate in removing litter from public places.
The cleanliness mission was launched by the PM in October on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary. He swept a section of a street in Central Delhi and tagged nine famous Indians; he urged them to set an example by leading the campaign in their cities. Since then, at a series of public addresses, including one in Sydney yesterday, the PM has asked that by 2019, for Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary, India should pay tribute to its iconic leader by ensuring his dream of a clean India is fulfilled.
In recent weeks, high-profile figures have been photographed sweeping the streets.
But earlier this month, for a politician from the PM's party, the move backfired after a worker was photographed scattering leaves just so he could pose sweeping them up.
The images exposing Satish Upadhyay, a Delhi leader of the BJP, caused the party considerable embarrassment.