Senior IAS officer Parameswaran Iyer knows how to lead from the front. Parameswaran Iyer might be a senior IAS officer and the Secretary to the Union ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation but in a move that left several in awe, he got down to empty a twin toilet pit with his own hands.

The action of Iyer, who heads the Swachh Bharat Mission, also caught the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He got inside a twin toilet pit in a Telangana village and removed fecal matter with his hands, the officers accompanying him as well as the villagers watched him in awe.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised top bureaucrat Param Iyer for emptying a public toilet pit in Warangal during an exercise carried out in support of Swachh Bharat. Speaking in his 29th episode of Mann ki Baat on Sunday, Modi especially praised IAS officer Param Iyer for setting an example for others. An event was organized in Warangal in which senior officers from 23 states took part, he said.

“This toilet pit emptying exercise undertaken by the Drinking Water & Sanitation Ministry is remarkable!” Modi tweeted as well.

This toilet pit emptying exercise undertaken by the Drinking Water & Sanitation Ministry is remarkable! https://t.co/rSX6GEyvhQ

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 26, 2017

Iyer was on a visit to Gangadevipalli in Warangal district on February 18 along with a delegation of 40 bureaucrats, including 23 principal secretaries associated with the rural development departments in various states, besides representatives of the UNICEF.

The team was there to study the concept of twin-pit toilet technology that converts human excreta into manure within a short period of time and also helps in eliminating the practice of open defecation.

“It’s perfectly safe and clean to empty a twin pit toilet. The @swachhbharat team joins Gangadevipally village today,” Iyer tweeted after visiting the village.

It’s perfectly safe and clean to empty a twin pit toilet. The @swachhbharat team joins Gangadevipally village today pic.twitter.com/IXQ6fITAfq

— Param Iyer (@paramiyer_) February 18, 2017

“While explaining this technology, Iyer suddenly wanted to know how the first pit is emptied. He removed the lid of the pit, got into it and started lifting the dried up fecal matter, which had turned into a manure, using a shovel,” Warangal (rural) joint collector Prashant Jeevan Patil said. Patil informed Iyer did not even wear gloves on his hands.

“It was a surprise to everybody and after some time, all of us started participating in the cleaning up of the toilet. He led all of us by example in showing that scavenging is not a menial job. And I, too, held the dried up fecal matter, which had turned into manure, with my hands and I was not ashamed of it,” Patil said.

Iyer’s commendable actions, as well as images of other high-level officers sweeping streets, will go a long way in removing the taint associated with manual scavenging. This exercise showed results; media in the country gave wide publicity and highlighted its importance. And it is quite natural because when people see an IAS officer cleaning a toilet pit himself, the fact is naturally noticed by the country, the PM said.