KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 22

The Bagmati Cleaning Mega Campaign will enter the 400th week on January 9. Plans are afoot among the campaigners and volunteers to observe the 400th week of the campaign in Kathmandu valley in a special way.

Chief campaigner and former ambassador to China Leela Mani Paudyal said in a virtual discussion yesterday that the cleaning of Bagmati River and its tributaries were taken forward without forming any committee and without any monetary assistance.

The campaign of cleaning one of the most important and revered rivers in the valley was launched on 19 May 2013. He clarified that there was no monetary assistance from anyone or any organisation for the campaign. “We are doing it on our own selflessly. There has been no monetary injection into the programme as heard,” he underscored.

The campaigners had tied up with the High-Powered Committee for Integrated Development of the Bagmati Civilisation since the 12th week of the campaign, one of the reasons why rumours were doing the rounds, according to Paudyal.

Another campaigner Om Basnet spoke of the need to take forward the Bagmati cleaning campaign independently instead of forging collaboration with the committee.

Similarly, the other campaigners stressed on giving continuity to the clean-up drive with the participation of campaigners and volunteers contributing selflessly to help restore the purity of the holy Bagmati River. They added that on the 400th week of the campaign, a fishery should be started at the origin of the tributaries of the Bagmati River.

They also suggested that coordination be forged with all the 18 local units of Kathmandu valley and stressed the need to mobilise the local communities for the campaign.

Bhagwan Das Manandhar, a campaigner, had single-handedly started cleaning the river, later others joined hands with him, this was shared in the virtual discussion.

Feature image: File