‘All of us have to do our bit, if we want to see Mother Ganga flowing Aviral and Nirmal’ said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while launching the Kartavya Ganga song during a program organized by NMCG in New Delhi on Tuesday. The ‘Clean Ganga Movement’ was organized by Namami Gange to mobilize contribution towards its ‘Clean Ganga Fund’.
‘Nahi Rukenge, Swachh Karenge’ the clarion call of the ‘Kartavya Ganga’ song, received a thumping response from the audience including Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (MOWR, RD & GR) Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, Dr. Satya Pal Singh, Minister of State, (MOWR, RD & GR), Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State, (MOWR, RD & GR), Member of Parliament Hema Malini, Member of Parliament Padma, MC Mary Kom, the Trichur Brothers, Prasoon Joshi and other dignitaries present during the program.
‘At least 1 Cr people must contribute to the Clean Ganga Fund. The amount is not important, but their joining of this mission is. Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi has donated 1.4 Cr which he received as the Seoul Peace prize towards the Clean Ganga Fund said Union Minister Nitin Gadkari during his speech. I have pledged to ensure completion of all projects of NMCG within 13 months, to make Maa Ganga Nirmal. Under the leadership of Hon’ble PM, Finance ministry is providing 27,000 Cr. out of 276 sanctioned projects, 82 projects have already been completed ‘he added.
Following the example set by Nitin Gadkari, who earlier donated Rs 1 Lakh during the Namami Gange event in Kumbh, Hon’ble Union Ministers Shri Arun Jaitley, Dharmendra Pradhan, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Dr Satya Pal Singh donated Rs. 1 Lakh each to the Clean Ganga Fund. Member of Parliament Hema Malini also pledged to donate Rs. 1 Lakh to the Clean Ganga Fund. UP Singh, Secretary, MOWR RD & GR donated Rs 25,000 towards the Clean Ganga Fund.
IOCL donated Rs. 34 Cr, a group of businessmen from Mumbai donated Rs. 2,56,30,000. During the program Sunil Mehta, MD, PNB donated Rs 2 Cr, VA Tech Wabag pledged to donate 1Cr. The faculty and members of Wildlife Institute of India have contributed one day’s salary to the Clean Ganga Fund. Prior to this Team NMCG, led by Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, DG alongwith other partners like SBI, UBI, HDFC and EIL etc. jointly made individual contributions to Clean Ganga Fund on 15.01.2019 coinciding with the auspicious start of the Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj. An amount of Rs. 3.5 lakh was collected as contributions by NMCG employees and others on the day.
Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, the CEO of the Clean Ganga fund made a contribution of Rs.51000/- to the Fund.
‘I request everyone to get strongly associated with this Mission and take up more projects either on their own or in association with NMCG or contribute directly to the Clean Ganga Fund,’ said Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan while addressing the gathering.
‘The Kartavya Ganga Campaign’ song has been developed by Shri Prasoon Joshi and sung by Shanker Mahadevan – the campaign song captures myriad views of Ganga and exhorts people to connect with the Clean Ganga Movement. ‘This song will remind people about the beauty of Ma Ganga and also inspire them to become a part of the Clean Ganga Campaign’, said Shri Prasoon Joshi during his speech.
The launch of the ‘Pravasi Ganga Program’ to support the Clean Ganga Fund and connect with NRIs, Foreign Nationals with an interest in conservation of Ganga was another highlight of the program.
In addition, several corporates are engaging with NMCG to take up various projects aimed at cleaning of the Ganga or bringing about a better people connect at the ghats on the river. Some of these corporates and PSUs are the Indorama Group, the HCL, Reliance JIO, Mojarto and NDTV Venture, Shipping Corporation of India etc.
The dignitaries present at the event also launched the first of its kind Namami Gange floating museum (Ganga Tarini) at Varanasi and Ganga Interpretation Center (Ganga Darpan) at Sarnath developed by Wildlife institute of India (WII) in collaboration with NMCG. The centres are one of a kind initiative to inform people about the various facets of the river including social, cultural, historical and economical history and impact.
‘Biodiversity profile of the Ganga River’, a book launched during the event will serve as baseline data inventory for future monitoring of biodiversity of the Ganga river and to indicate the overall ecological health of the river.
Another book ‘Conservation Reference Guide’ provides concise and practical information with a proper scientific protocol for rescue as well as release of aquatic animals. This will be used by the rescue and wildlife officers, who are working tirelessly to save the biodiversity and ecology of the holy river.
