Patna: Around 10,000 sanitation motivators from Hindi-speaking districts from across the country will fan out all over Bihar from Monday to urge people to get a toilet constructed in their house and desist from defecating in the open.

An equal number of sanitation motivators from Bihar would accompany these visitors. Sanitation motivators are volunteers who spread messages about the ill-effects of open defecation and their selection is done by district administration concerned. These motivators get a token incentive for every toilet built on their persuasion.

The special drive in Bihar, which will continue for a week, is being launched ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit on April 10 to Motihari - the headquarters of East Champaran - where he will take part in a programme to mark the centenary year of Mahatma Gandhi's Champaran Satyagraha, a senior state government official said.

The issue of sanitation was very close to Gandhi's heart and hence the drive assumes significance.

The Mahatma had reached Patna on April 10 in 1917 and after his brief stay there and in Muzaffarpur, he had reached Motihari on April 15 the same year.

After spreading their message, the sanitation motivators will congregate at Motihari and would take part in a programme in which the Prime Minister would address them. The event will be telecast live so that sanitation motivators from across the country could listen to Modi's address.

Only around 46 per cent of Bihar's households have toilets, well below the national average of 73 per cent.

Apart from addressing the sanitation motivators, Modi is also likely to launch a Rs 22-crore project under which a water treatment plan would be set up. This will ensure that no untreated water goes into Motijheel, a large lake located in the heart of Motihari town. Part of this fund would also be used for beautification of the lake, including construction of a road along its banks.

Sources revealed that Modi would also lay the foundation stone of the building of Mahatma Gandhi Central University of Bihar in Motihari.

Established in 2016, the university is at present running from a space provided by the state government in Motihari.

The university's campus is to come up on the southern fringe of Motihari for which the state government is providing 302 acres of land.