Varanasi students form human chain on World Water Day

Varanasi, March 22 (ANI):On the occasion of the World Water Day (March 22), students from public and Vedic schools joined hands to formed a human chain to spread the message of clean Ganga.

Besides, the students offered prayers near the banks of Ganges and took a pledge to protect it from further getting being polluted.

"We took a pledge that we will not pollute Ganga River. Together we will try to keep Ganges clean and will not throw any kind of wastes in the river...with this human chain, we wanted to spread this message," said Akshaybar Tiwari, one of the Vedic school student.

River Ganga (Ganges) is one of the largest and revered rivers of India, supporting a large population on its banks.

Sewage and industrial effluents pour into much of the River Ganga's course through India's most populated states, reducing its capacity to support life and making it unfit for human or animal use. Floating corpses are a common sight, as Hindus believe cremation on the river banks leads to salvation.

The government has planned to end discharge of untreated waste into the Ganges by 2020.

Though the Union government enacted Ganga Action Plan in 1985 to clean the river, much of the action seems to have confined to papers.

However, with one billion tonnes of waste being dumped into it everyday, the River Ganga, unfortunately, remains one of the most polluted rivers in the world. By Girish Kumar Dubey (ANI)