Sadhus embark on ‘clean Ganga’ plan

By OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Lucknow, May 22: Sadhus, saints and religious leaders in Varanasi will embark on a new mission from next week. These religious leaders will perform shramdan (voluntary labour) to clean up the Ganga river in the holy city.

Led by Swami Avimukteshwaranand, a representative of Shankaracharya of Jyotis and Sharda-Dwarka Peeth Swami and Swarupanand Saraswati, they will start offering shramdan in Varanasi from May 26.

"The state of the Ganga in Varanasi is bad enough to make one cry. The size of the river has been reduced to half due to paucity of water and the pollution is almost nauseating. The Ganga is the holiest of all rivers in the world and people come to Varanasi for a holy dip because they believe that the waters of Ganga can wash away their sin and lead them to salvation. We have waited all these years for the government to do something about the pollution in the Ganga but now we will do it ourselves," says Mahant Acharya Vignesh who has come down from Haridwar to participate in the shramdan.

In the first phase, the sadhus will perform shramdan to remove polythene and plastic form the river. "We will also engage some divers who can help in remove the waste form the river bed," the Acharya says. Along with the shramdan, the sadhus and saints plan to create awareness among tourists and local people to stop further pollution of the river. "A number of NGOs have already offered their help in our mission and we are welcoming anyone who wishes to join in. A number of schoolchildren are also being roped in for this pious work and we feel that this would be a proper utilisation of their summer vacations," he added.

The "clean Ganga" campaign will begin with shramdan from the Kedar Ghat, and then proceed towards the other ghats where the sadhus would remove garbage and debris.