Manoj Tiwari leads cleaning drive along Yamuna

New Delhi: BJP MP Manoj Tiwari on Sunday led a cleaning drive along the banks of Yamuna near the old Iron Bridge in Central Delhi, as part of the Sparsh Ganga campaign, started to ensure that the work of cleaning the Ganges is as expeditious as possible and awareness about the need to keep India's rivers clean is spread.

The North-East Delhi MP was joined by the national convener of the Sparsh Ganga initiative, Arushi Nishank as they planted trees along the banks of Ganga's major tributary in Delhi. The campaign was started in 2009 to clean the Ganges right from its source in the Himalayas and along its journey to the Bay of Bengal.

Speaking at the event, Nishank said, "In cleaning campaigns we include steps to check throwing of plastics into the river, converting the biodegradable waste into manure and reprocessing the non-degradable waste along the river stretch, checking the drains from carrying dirt into the Yamuna and creating awareness on the importance of rivers." Nishank added that cleaning major tribuataries like the Yamuna will go a long way in helping to solve pollution in the Ganges. "We want people to take responsibility for this project as people's efforts along with the government's help in completing the task faster," she said.

Moreover, Tiwari, speaking at the event stressed the need to quickly implement projects from the government, aimed at cleaning the river that many consider spiritual. He said that the Yamuna has been neglected for many years and policies to clean up the Ganges before the Kumbh festival must be implemented at the soonest.

"A sewage treatment plant was set up to stop waste from the bigger sewage pipelines from entering into the Ganga river. Artificial oxygen was used to clean the sewage pipelines; plants were grown across these sewage pipelines so that the untreated waste and garbage is collected and doesn't flow into the Ganga river. We are committed to cleaning Ma Ganga, and cleaning the Yamuna is a part of that goal," he said, stressing on how serious his government is about the clean Ganga initiative.