Uttarakhand: Jal Shakti Minister Flags Off 34-Day Long Ganga Rafting Expedition To Raise Awareness On Water Conservation

Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Thursday (10 October) flagged off a 34-day-long rafting expedition from Devprayag in Uttarakhand to Ganga Sagar in West Bengal, reports Asian News International (ANI).

The expedition called 'Ganga Calling Campaign' or 'Ganga Aamantran Abhiyan' has been initiated under the Union Government's National Mission for Clean Ganga programme and is aimed at creating awareness on water conservation.

On the occasion, Shekhawat said that the participants of the expedition over the course of their journey will meet with the masses to make them aware about the need to maintain the clean ('Nirmal Dhara') and uninterrupted ('Aviral Dhara') flow of the river Ganga. He himself joined the participants of the expedition in a journey from Devprayag to Rishikesh.

The Ganga Aamantran Abhiyan will cover the five Ganga basin states- Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. It will have stops at at Rishikesh, Haridwar, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Patna, Sonepur and Kolkata.

As per the report, this expedition will mark the first-ever effort by the National Mission for Clean Ganga to raft across the entire Ganga river.