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Sadhus embark on ‘clean Ganga’ plan
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NewsByte on 22 May, 2008 06:17:41
 
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.