Thousands join clean Ganga campaign in Kanpur, Patna
Patna/Kanpur, Dec. 2 (ANI)
Thousands have joined a Clean River Ganga campaign in Kanpur and Patna over the weekend.
The central government has started a mega scheme named the 'Ganga Action Plan'. But for the past two and half decades, billions of rupees have been spent with no visible results.
The accumulation of silt deposit, discharge of industrial effluents and domestic waste along the banks has worried the environmentalists along with the shrinking size of the river.
In Kanpur, thousands of people formed a human chain on the bank to support the campaign.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Uma Bharti, who has launched a nationwide agitation for the purpose, said it was necessary for the government and people to join hands.
"They will take ledge for clean Ganga and for its uninterrupted flow. The government's efforts are necessary to ensure the free flowing river and people's endeavours are needed for cleanliness. Today thousands of people will assemble to ensure this amalgamation," said Bharti.
In Patna, BJP leader Chandreshwar Prasad Thakur said: "Our aim is how to keep Ganga pure, clean, and purify and alive. The Ganga has become very polluted."
In 2011, the central government approved USD 1 billion loan from the World Bank, to fund an eight-year project to clean the Ganga, in particular the large stretches heavily polluted by industrial effluents and domestic waste.
The river, which is 2600 kilometre long, originates in Himalayas and empties into the Bay of Bengal.