Urging the people to address their messages to Maa Ganga, "Namami Gange", the flagship programme of the Modi government for ensuring a clean Ganga, is aiming at setting a Guinness world record on November 1, ahead of the three-day "Ganga Utsav 2021".

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), an initiative of the Jal Shakti Ministry, has appealed to the Ganga river lovers, conservationists, activists and the general public to prepare a message with a hand-written poem or a memoir or an article in the name of "Maa Ganga," along with a picture and share it on the Namami Gange Facebook event page. The event and the Utsav are part of the peoples' connect, public outreach activities of the NMCG.

"We are looking at participation time of 11 a.m. till 12 noon on November 1 for maximising people's participation. That would be the hour for which we are attempting the record for the Guinness World Records on November 1," said Real Time Information Specialist at "Namami Gange", Peeyush Gupta.

The "Namami Gange" social media handle and the "Ganga Utsav" website (www.gangautsav.com) are already promoting how the interested people should click photos.

NMCG's "Namami Gange" is an integrated conservation mission, approved as a Flagship Programme by the Centre in June 2014 with a budgetary outlay of Rs 20,000 crore to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.

"Ganga Utsav" is a three-day festival celebrating the Ganga starting this year on November 2. The NMCG has been celebrating the day of declaration of the Ganga as the National River on November 4 every year with the objective to promote stakeholders' engagement and ensure public participation under the aegis of Ganga Knowledge Centre.

The utsav celebrates the mystical and cultural river Ganga through storytelling, folklore, dialogues with eminent personalities, quizzing, displaying traditional art forms, dance and music performance by renowned artistes, photo galleries and exhibitions and much more.

(IANS/JB)

Keywords: India, Namami Ganga, Narendra Modi, Utsav, Festival.