As part of the ambitious clean Ganga project, the BJP will complete by September 22 the formations of village committee along the river and involve ‘purohits’ (Priests) in the awareness campaign to help the ‘Namami Gange’ mission to which Government has allotted a massive Rs20,000 crore.
The BJP has sought to make a time-bound programme to create awareness among the villagers living along the river bank to actively involve them in its “maintenance.”
The clean Ganga project had prominently figured in the lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh that returned an unprecedented 73 MPs of BJP and its allies. The UP would be going to the polls in the first half of 2017.
Senior BJP leader and member of party’s Namami Gange coordination committee Trivendra Rawat told The Pioneer that the committee would organise all India workshop (Akhil Bhartiya Karya Shala) in all districts which have a total of 1,619 villages located along Ganga on October 1 and 2 to work out ways to activate and involve them in taking steps “to maintain” the stretch of river passing through their regions.
The BJP is involving ‘Purohit samaj’ (priests) who carry out ‘puja’ for households on several occasions round the year with religious ceremony unwittingly polluting the river, to spread word that ‘ways’ need to be mended by all if the river is to retain its pristine purity.
The BJP leader said the party workers are trying to convince all villagers on the river side as how a clean Ganga would have an all round positive impact on their lives. The economic importance (of keeping Ganga clean) is as much as that of its immemorial religious and spiritual link with the people living on its bank, he said. A total of 40 per cent of the country’s population is living along the river that passes through the Hindi heartland
Rawat said they were in the process of forming Rsvillage committeesRs which are to work permanently on river’s cleanliness projects. “ From September 20 to 22 all village committees (Namani Gange) along the river will be completed”, he said.
Besides Rawat, the committee has Union Ministers Mahesh Sharma, Prakash Javadekar, Uma Bharti and party General Secretary Ram lal as its members who are to monitor the progress of the mission- Clean Ganga. Party President Amit Shah had announced nine separate committees of senior leaders to involve BJP workers in various social campaigns launched by it, including that relating to ‘Namami Gange’.
Rawat said it has been decided that in each year on November 25 will be observed as ‘Sankalp Divas’ in these villages to reiterate their commitment to the idea of ‘Swachch Ganga’.
These steps apart, Rawat said programmes like ‘ek sham Swachch Ganga ke naam’ are to be organised where people from outside would be spending “an evening” on the banks of Ganga and interacting with people in the rural folks and suggesting newer ways to keep Ganga sparkling clean.