Now, NRIS can help in rejuvenating Ganga

DEHRADUN:IN a first of its kind initiative, Dehradun based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) under the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has launched a programme to rope in Indians living abroad who want to help in rejuvenation of the sacred river Ganga with contributions for cleanliness and biodiversity conservation.

The programme named Pravasi Ganga Prahari was informally launched on January 10 on an online platform, said the project coordinator of WIINMCG. The institute is heading the Biodiversity Conservation and Ganga Rejuvenation Project under the mission. The programme will be formally launched in a few days, but in three days of its informal launch, it has received a response from about 100 non-residential Indians from across the world, mainly Europe, willing to contribute towards the cause.

Ruchi Badola, senior scientist at WII and the project coordinator said, “We received inputs from many people who wanted to do something for their country and that is when we decided to make this online platform for rejuvenation of Ganga.” She added that with this platform, all NRIS would be able to directly connect with the WII-NMCG project by filling up a Google document.

The project aims to connect global citizens who value the natural resource and want to engage in activities related to the conservation of Ganga aqua life by “making voluntary contribution in either kind or money.”

“For instance, these NRIS want to make contributions for good causes on occasions like birthdays, or in the memory of their elders, then with this platform they can directly contribute to the Clean Ganga fund, without any bar on currency,” said Badola. The platform allows NRIS to donate in any currency above $5, which will be used for reviving the holy river.

At present, there are 600 Ganga Praharis in the country from villages set up on the banks of Ganga across the five states on the course - Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

The NMCG works to ensure effective abatement of pollution and rejuvenation of Ganga by adopting a river basin approach to promote inter-sectoral coordination for comprehensive planning. It aims to ensure water quality and environmentally sustainable development by maintaining minimum ecological flow in the river.