Modi plogging
Prime Minister Narendra Modi seen collecting waste materials from a beach in Mamallapuram. Image credit - Instagram @ narendramodi

Northeast leaders showered their praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for plogging for half an hour at a beach in Mamallapuram on Saturday morning.

The Prime Minister shared a video of his plogging activity on his Twitter handle.

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The video of 3 minute 2 seconds, which garnered over 6 lakh views on Twitter, showed Modi collecting waste materials from the beach in bare feet and putting it in a bag.

The later part of the video shows Modi handing over his waste collection to a hotel staff, named Jeyaraj.

Also read: Modi lauds Assam’s first ‘Clean and Green’ village in Barpeta

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The Prime Minister also captioned his tweet with a message urging people to keep their places clean and tidy in addition to keep themselves fit and healthy.

Modi tweeted, “Plogging at a beach in Mamallapuram this morning. It lasted for over 30 minutes. Also handed over my ‘collection’ to Jeyaraj, who is a part of the hotel staff. Let us ensure our public places are clean and tidy! Let us also ensure we remain fit and healthy.”

Meanwhile, the chief ministers of Assam and Tripura, Sarbananda Sonowal and Biplab Deb respectively also hailed Modi for inspiring people to keep their surroundings clean as a part of their regular fitness routine through plogging.

The chief minister of Assam was “touched” to see Modi’s dedication “for the people, the nation & the environment”.

Sonowal tweeted, “A Pradhan Sevak who dedicates everyday & his every activity for the people, the Nation & the environment. So touched to see this in the morning! @narendramodi ji, you inspire us by example to do our bit every moment.”

The chief minister of Tripura encouraged people to take up plogging as an everyday activity to fulfill India’s dream of Swachh Bharat and Fit India.

Deb tweeted, “PM Shri @narendramodi ji initiated plogging on the beach of Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu this morning and collected plastics & garbages scattered there. If we all start practicing the same habit everyday, our dream of #SwachhBharat and #FitIndia will be fulfilled simultaneously.”

Union minister of state (independent charge) for sports & youth affairs Kiren Rijiju claimed that plogging run burns more calories than traditional jogging.

Rijiju tweeted, “When the Prime Minister leads from the front, the whole nation moves along!#Plogging is the best way to improve overall fitness and cleanliness together. #PloggingRun burns 15% to 30% calories than traditional jogging while waste collection becomes a glamorous lifestyle!”

Modi was seen plogging on the beach of Mamallapuram on the second day of his informal meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Plogging, which is a combination of jogging along with picking trash, was first started in Sweden in 2016 to combat plastic pollution and then other countries followed suit.