Students join hands to clean River Ganga in Varanasi

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Aug 13(ANI): A group of students wearing anti Swine Flu masks on Thursday participated in a cleanliness drive to clean the River Ganga in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi city.

Students opined that although several action plans have been announced in the past to clean up the river and millions of rupees spent, but the non-stop inflow of civic waste and industrial effluents into the river has kept it devoid of its beauty.

"We are cleaning up River Ganga. It is our national river. And, it is said that the nation comes up before religion. We used brooms, cleaned the banks of the river and removed dirt from the river," said Taufiq, a student.

Participating students said that despite being declared as the 'National River', no steps had been taken to improve the condition of the Ganga, forcing them to team up to lend their bit in cleaning the river ahead of Independence Day.

Under a looming threat of the swine flu pandemic, students were also seen wearing facemasks and gloves during the exercise.

"We have worn gloves and masks because of the swine flu threat. It has been worn to prevent its spread among students and tourists coming here," said Mayank Shekhar, another student.

In 1996, the Supreme Court had banned the discharge of effluents from various tanneries and factories located on banks of the river in Kanpur.

As of now, tonnes of waste are dumped into the river everyday. (ANI)