New Delhi: The longest ever social campaign in the form of an adventure sporting activity, ‘Ganga Aamantran Abhiyan’ encompassing five states has been launched to spread the message of River Rejuvenation and Water Conservation on a massive scale.
This is the first-ever effort by National Mission for Clean Ganga to raft across the entire stretch of the Ganga river, which was launched by Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on 7th October 2019 in New Delhi.
The ‘Ganga Aamantran Abhiyan’ is a pioneering and historic exploratory open-water rafting and kayaking expedition on the Ganga River to be held between 10 October to 11 November 2019. Starting at Devprayag and culminating at Ganga Sagar, the expedition will cover the entire stretch of over 2500 kms of the Ganga River.
The expedition will encompass the five Ganga basin states including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal with stops at Rishikesh, Haridwar, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Sonepur and Kolkata.
A nine-member team of swimmer and rafters from the three Services of the Indian Armed Forces, led by acclaimed international open-water swimmer Wing Commander Paramvir Singh. This nine-member team would be joined by 3 members from NDRF, 2 members each from WII and CSIR-IITR.
The team, during the expedition will take up public awareness campaign on the locations at which they will stop. They will organise mass cleaning drives, interact with students of the village/city and will further the message of river conservation.
The Minister of Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will lead from the front and will not only flag-off the expedition but also be a part of the expedition from Devprayag to Rishikesh.
The expedition will commence on 10th October 2019, at Devprayag, where Bhagirathi and Alaknanda merge and the Ganga begins. The expedition will continue for 33 days, and culminate on 11th November 2019 at Bakkhali Beach, Frazerganj covering a total distance of almost 2,500 kms.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion the Hon’ble Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that “During the last 5 years under the able leadership of the PM Narendra Modi, the government has carried out various initiatives in order to restore Ganga’s Aviralta and Nirmalta and it has started to show positive results but any such movement that needs sustainability cannot be achieved until and unless it becomes a public movement or Jan Andolan. In order to connect with the various stakeholders directly or indirectly connected to Ganga, this mega event is being organized.’’
