Jal Shakti Min launches massive cleanliness drive in Ganga-linked states on Gandhi Jayanti

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, a massive cleanliness and awareness campaign was launched in the States where river Ganges flows, the Ministry of Jal Shakti said in a release. The Ministry lauded volunteers and 'Ganga Doots' associated with the 'Namami Gange Mission', for their excellent role in cleaning the Ganga river.

The cleanliness drive also saw the participation of voluntary organisations like Sparsh Ganga and Being Bhagirath. The ghats of river Yamuna were also cleaned in many districts under the cleanliness drive. Besides this, awareness campaigns are being run in north-western states. Volunteers saw several Gangetic dolphins in the river during the campaign.

According to the Jal Shakti Ministry, a cleanliness drive was also launched in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district, where the Ganga Yatra begins from the river bank at Korantadih. The team of the District Ganga Committee including Minister of State Upendra Tiwari, District Magistrate SP Shahi were also involved in the Yatra.

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Tiwari said, "The three-day program of Ganga Yatra is a very commendable effort towards making Mother Ganga aviral and nirmal." He also asked the volunteers to vow that "when Ganga is called mother, we will not put any kind of filth or garbage in it."

The minister encouraged everyone to spend half an hour daily for cleanliness, for realising the dream of Swachh Bharat (Clean India). The Ballia District Magistrate said river Ganga flows through a distance of 120 kilometres of about 50-gram panchayats in the district.

"The program has been planned by connecting both cleanliness and Ganga. Gandhiji's dream was Swachh Bharat and this program also has the same purpose," Shahi said.

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Ganga cleanliness drive in Uttar Pradesh

The Ganga cleanliness campaign was also carried out at the Ganga Ghat of Varanasi by the Eco Skilled Ganga Mitras, in which the volunteers made people aware of the importance of the cleaning river Ganga.

"In the program, under the direction of BD Tripathi, Scientific Professor of MahamanaMalaviya Ganga Research Center, Kashi Hindu University, Varanasi, the people are also constantly working on 5 aspects of Ganga (Spiritual Ganga, Nirmal Ganga, Aviral Ganga, Earth Ganga, and Ecological Ganga)," the Ministry of Jal Shakti said.

During the drive, all COVID-19 guidelines were followed and a large number of sanitation programs were also carried out in districts of Uttar Pradesh including Prayagraj, Bijnore, Farrukhabad, Bulandshahar, Fatehpur, Ghazipur, Kanpur and Kannauj.

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Ganga Ghats were cleaned by volunteers in almost all Ganga blocks of Patna district. Along with this, various competitions including Ganga Swachhata and Awareness Campaign were also held in West Bengal’s Murshidabad, Diamond Harbor and Hooghly.

"These programs, in collaboration with the Nehru Yuva Kendra and NamamiGange, aimed to cooperate in cleaning Ganga by adding more and more people so that concrete steps can be taken in the coming days to make the Ganga clean," read the release.

According to the Ministry, these programs were focused on keeping the Ganga clean and creating awareness, in order to accelerate the campaign by changing their behaviour. The drive also laid emphasis on making villages near the banks of Ganga, open defecation-free and polythene-free.

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(With inputs from agency) (Image credits: PTI)