Kolkata : West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Tuesday felicitated the 45 members of the “Swachh Ganga Abhiyan” (Clean Ganga drive) river rafting expedition, an initiative by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”.
The expedition, which was undertaken in collaboration with National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), started from Dev Prayag (Uttrakhand) on October 2 and will end at Gangasagar (West Bengal) on December 12 after a journey of 2,350 km in 73 days. On its way, the team traversed cities and towns like Rishikesh, Haridwar, Kanpur, and Patna.
The duties which the team have so far performed includes getting rid of polythene from the Ganga, spreading awareness of preservation of endangered aquatic species, awareness relating to non-pollution of the river and also spreading the message of “Beti Bachao, Beti Padao” and “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”.
Speaking at the event, Tripathi said: ” The Ganga has been polluted to such a level that leave alone drinking water from it, the water is not even fit to use for agriculture. We are responsible for all this. It is high time time we did something to get the river clean and I heartly congratulate everyone who have been a part of this.”