“Six set sail across Gomti to ensure a cleaner river” by Times of India

“Six set sail across Gomti to ensure a cleaner river.” The Times of India. 22 September 2011.

Six set sail across Gomti to ensure a cleaner river

The Times of India

September 22, 2011

LUCKNOW: With an aim to bringing the focus on rivers and those who live on their banks, a group of six men and women from different countries is on an expedition across the Gomti.

“We have people from Germany, Switzerland and India with us,” said Andy Leemann, who has taken up several such expeditions on different rivers in the past. The group has been navigating on ribs (rigid inflatable boat) on river Gomti since September 15. The expedition started from Madho Tanda, the originating point of the Gomti in Pilibhit and it would end on September 30 at Varanasi, at the point where the Gomti meets the Ganga.

The Gomti is the third Indian river which has been chosen for the expedition, after the Ganga and the Brahmaputra. “We wish to establish greater focus worldwide on forgotten and neglected rivers, riverine ecology as well as the livelihood and culture of people who live by the banks,” said Apal Singh, an expedition member.

The expeditions help us in highlighting the state of rivers and people living along their banks, said Apal Singh. It also explores the possibility of promoting eco-responsible tourism, sustainable livelihoods for people living by the rivers and long-term measures for conserving ecological capital, he added.

The group, which includes conservationists and journalists, has taken up expeditions across several American and Mexican rivers.

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