Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday voiced concern over “exploitation” of rivers for “vested interests”, which resulted in many of them drying up.
While addressing the concluding ceremony of the 150-day-long Narmada Seva Yatra here, Modi praised the BJP Government in Madhya Pradesh for coming out with a road map for conservation of the Narmada River, considered the “lifeline” of the State.
Modi also lauded Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan by saying that MP has made “commendable strides” for a Swachchh Bharat.
lauding the Narmada conservation campaign, Modi said, “The roadmap was sent to me in advance and I went through it. It has details of what is to be done, by whom, and when. In my opinion, it is a perfect document with a future vision.”
Modi asked Chouhan to share the document on Narmada conservation with other States.
Modi said India’s economy is based on its rivers and it is the river Narmada that helped MP achieve agricultural prosperity.
“Narmada has the power to change farmers’ lives. We say, water is life and river is our mother. Our economy is dependent on rivers and will collapse without them. We have used Narmada haphazardly. So now, we have to make efforts to save it,” he said.
“Narmada is behind the prosperity of farmers in Madhya Pradesh. If we fail in our duty of protecting rivers, it will spell doom for mankind. The Madhya Pradesh Government has decided to plant trees for the conservation of mother Narmada. I was born in Gujarat and the people of Gujarat know the value of every drop of Narmada,” he said.
Highlighting the poor condition of many rivers in the country, he said, “There is a river named Bharat Puzha in Kerala. It is a matter of concern whether this river will survive or not.”
“We are forced to sweat it out now because we did not fulfil our responsibilities towards rivers. We exploited them for our vested interest,” he said.
Heaping praise on Chouhan, the Prime Minister said the State is making “commendable strides” in its flagship scheme, Swachchh Bharat Mission. “We are seeing the commendable strides MP is making in Swachchh Bharat Mission. I congratulate Madhya Pradesh.”
“I am very happy that the MP Government is working on afforestation,” PM Modi said while promising that the Government is committed towards doubling the income of farmers in 2022.
The Narmada Seva Yatra was flagged off in December last year as part of a campaign to clean the Narmada. The campaign was projected as the world’s “biggest river conservation campaign with public participation”.
Earlier, the MP Assembly had passed a resolution declaring the holy river a living entity. Subsequently, Chouhan had announced that a Bill to provide legal framework to the resolution would be brought in the Assembly in the next session.
lauding people’s participation in the campaign, Modi further said, the Narmada Seva Yatra was a unique mass movement in the country’s history. “The biggest strength of a democracy is Jan Bhagidari (people’s participation). We are seeing great enthusiasm towards Swachchh Bharat Mission,” he said, adding the success of the mission was due to people and not because of governments.
“The Narmada Seva Yatra has ended but the yagya has begun, to achieve the aims with which we commenced this Yatra,” he concluded.