A workshop was held in Hotel Prayag Inn, Allahabad in preparation for a Clean and Green Kumbh 2013. Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, Founder of Ganga Action Parivar, envisions this highly anticipated, largest human gathering to be the golden opportunity for the nation to set an example for a clean and green India. Having arrived just two days ago from His trip abroad, He inspired the people of Prayag to remember and restore the true wealth of India, its unique spiritual, cultural and natural heritage, unparalleled in world. The Kumbh Mela is really an opportunity for each one of us to return back to our sacred value system, centred on the national river, Ganga, whose waters have always guided the nation. He urged that people of Prayag have the important opportunity of leading the way and setting a positive example for the world to stand witness to.
This workshop was a follow-up from the one held earlier this month, focused this time more specifically on school organizations. It signified a coming together (sangam) of educational institutes, NGOs with Allahabad and Kumbh Mela Adminstration. Hon’ble Chief Guest Commissioner of Allahabad, Shri Devesh Chaturvedi, dedicated his valuable time to lay out the three main objectives he would like to focus on during this campaign and in the coming months:
- Tree Plantation to Green Prayag
- Polythene Free Campaign to Clean Prayag
- Adopt Portions of Your Prayag to maintain the Clean and Green Prayag
He discussed initiatives such as giving out free clothe bags with each ration card and promised the full support of DFO in the city-wide tree plantation programmes before 15th of September. He encouraged institutions that while the administration’s support was there, it was each citizens and groups responsibility to do their part in maintaining and ensuring the success of these efforts. Those that were most successfully able to plant and maintain the most trees and/or create the most clothe bags would be given a special prize. Pujya Swamiji also acknowledged the support and willingness for governing officials to work with the people and urged each citizen to do their part. He said that the shakti (power) of women in the society who act collectively in an environmentally conscious way can truly transform the nation.
Hon’ble Chief Guest Justice Arun Tandon also joined the first half of the meeting to pledge his full support to the cause. Mela Adhikari, Mani Prasad Mishra; ADA Vice President, Shri Ajay Kumar Singh; SSP Mela, Shri RK S. Rathore; Representative of Ministry of Tourism, Shri Amit Srivastava also showed their invaluable support and dedication to the cause.
All actions for cleaning and greening Prayag are anticipated to ensure that during the Kumbh the sangam chetra (location of Kumbh Mela) will also be clean and green, inspiring the thousands that come to participate. Plans are underway for a polythene free and green Kumbh, including the handing out of saplings and jute bags during the mela and the development of a Ganga Smriti to allow those who come to the Mela to plant a tree in memory of their beloved in the Smriti Van (Memorial Forest) to fully develop one location as a model of collective efforts to beautify a sacred city. Clean-ups of the Kumbh Mela area were scheduled to be held before and after Magh Mela, mobilizing thousands of school children and their family to get into action.
The workshop was unique in that it included the open discussion and dialogue of participants with Pujya Swamiji, Allahabad and Kumbh Mela Adminstration to address and troubleshoot the technical difficulties that people encountered in their cleaning and greening efforts and to offer full support from governing agencies and the global Ganga family, Ganga Action Parivar, to this cause.
