Ganga Mahotsava from Nov 5

Tribune News Service

Haridwar, October 28

The Haridwar Nagrik Manch will organise a three-day Ganga Mahotsava at the Rishikul ground from November 5 to 9 .

Manch chief coordinator Jagdeesh Lal Pahwa, while briefing mediapersons about the Ganga Mahotsava, said its main theme would be generating awareness about restoring the sanctity and purity of the sacred river.

School students of the city would hold an awareness march to inaugurate the festival. The march would generate mass awareness about the importance of the holy river as well as the negative impact of varied pollutants on it, he added.

A cultural musical night by folk singer Narendra Singh Negi and Bollywood-spiritual-religious singer Anuradha Podwal will also be held during this mahotsava.

Sub coordinator Dr Sunil Kumar Batra said last year the Ganga Mahotsava had received good response from the people and artistes which helped in generating awareness about pollution in the holy river to a great extent.

Padmendra Singh Chauhan urged people to ensure they do not pollute the river as billions of people regard it as mother and took holy dips in it. Spiritual ideologue of the Parmarth Niketan ashram Swami Chidanand Muni Maharaj, who has extended cooperation and support to the Ganga Mahotsava, lauded the efforts of the citizen forum. He said without public support the Clean Ganga Mission couldn’t succeed.

“The Central government and various state governments had spent thousand of crores of rupees in the name of cleaning the Ganga, from Ganga Action Plan-I & II to the recent Namami Gange project, but not much has changed on the ground, as these plans remained devoid of public cooperation and awareness. So, it is imperative that we link these initiatives directly with people,” said Swami Chidanand Muni.

Yoga guru Ramdev, Acharya Balkrishan, Lalita Giri Maharaj, Swami Achutyanand Maharaj of Bhuma Niketan Peeth, Mohan Das, local MP Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari, city legislators Madan Kaushik and Aadesh Chauhan, and Mayor Manoj Garg would take part in the Ganga Mahotsava.