Varanasi, Dec 25 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday nominated nine people and organisations to take forward the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan.

The prime minister inspected the progress of work at Assi Ghat, where he began the mission in his parliamentary constituency Nov 8.

Modi announced names of Nagaland Governor Padmanabh Acharya, former police official Kiran Bedi, danseuse Sonal Mansingh, stand up comedian and TV host Kapil Sharma, former Indian Cricket team captain Saurav Ganguly, Eenadu group owner Ramoji Rao and his team, the India Today group and its head Arun Poorie, the Institute of Chartered Accountant of India (ICAI) and the Mumbai Dabbawalla's.

Expressing his gratitude to the people of Kashi, the NGOs, government officials and the Varanasi Nagar Nigam for taking the cleaning up of ghats on the banks of the Ganga, the prime minister said he was happy to see that several steps of the Assi Ghat which were buried under the mounds of silt have been cleaned up in a mere 40 days.

He also extended his greetings to the people on Christmas and said that he would also pay homage to Banaras Hindu University founder Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya who was named for the Bharat Ratna Wednesday.

Modi wished former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his 90th birthday.