Experts from different countries gathered on the banks of river Hooghly in connection with ‘adopt a river programme’ called The Ganga Abhiyan. Rotary International District 3291 has taken up the project. Under it, 12 ghats along the river Hooghly have been selected to carry out the pilot project.
Mayor Firhad Hakim flagged off the boat that took the experts to have an overview of the ghats under the pilot project at Outram Ghat Jetty. Apart from senior office bearers of Rotary International and Trinamul MP Dr Santanu Sen, eight Rotarians from 4 international clubs of Great Britain were present.
The objective of this initiative is to support the government initiatives in making Ganga more environmentfriendly by reducing the pollution at various ghats from Farakka to Gangasagar covering a distance of 400km. In Kolkata, Goenka Ghat, Mullick Ghat, Bhanga Chora Ghat, Chote Lal ki Ghat have been selected. In Bally, Pathak Shamshan Ghat, Dewankaji Ghat while in Baranagar DD Mondol Ghat, Ariadaha Ghat and Madhu Roy Ghat have been selected under the pilot project.
Soumen Roy, chairman of Ganga Abhiyan, said, “River and its tributaries are now our priority. We are undertaking different steps that will improve the water quality significantly. It will take around two years to complete this pilot project.”