Film on cleaning Ganga in the offing

Kolkata: A film titled "Mother of Nation: Jai Maa Ganga" is being made on the cleaning of river Ganga.

Ashok Kumar Sharma, the director, script writer and producer of the film said the sole purpose behind making of the film is to create awareness on the cleaning of river Ganga which is India's lifeline. There are no well known actors or actresses and the whole film centres around the various steps to clean Ganga and to create awareness on making it pollution-free. Manoj Kumar Sharma and Dona Banerjee are in the lead roles. The actors and actresses are all volunteers in Clean Ganga project.

The shooting recently began with a clean up drive at Telkal Ghat in Howrah. The activities of Howrah Jankalyan Manch, an organisation that is carrying awareness programmes on the cleaning of river Hooghly throughout the year will be shown in the film. The organisation has mobilised school students and through banners, posters and leaflets are trying to create awareness among people.

It may be mentioned that the state Environment department has decided to popularise lead-free paints to colour the images of Gods and Goddesses to save river Hooghly from pollution. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) takes away the structures of Durga and Kali after immersion so that pollution on river Hooghly is minimal.

There will be shooting of the film in Kanpur, Patna and Varanasi where pollution of river Ganga is a major concern of Central government. The effluents from the tanneries in Kanpur have polluted the river while in Patna and Varanashi the problem of pollution is acute.