Varanasi residents blow whistles to prevent River Ganga pollution

Varansi, Apr 25 (ANI): A group of residents in Varanasi have found a unique way to prevent pollution of the River Ganga by blowing whistles at people throwing litter in the river.

The whistleblower campaign launched under the banner of 'Mukti Mahasangh', a group of social organisations, wherein volunteers will be spending 90 minutes along the banks every day in the morning and evening to clean the holy river.

"This is the first time that in Benaras that whistleblowers are taking action and now people are realizing what the actual job of the whistleblowers is. We are blowing the whistle everyday so that those who throw garbage in the Ganga are not doing it anymore and we are clearing up all the litter that is already there in the river," said Rajeev Srivastava, an activist.

The residents also empty up garbage bags left near the river banks at a dumping ground and distribute cotton bags and whistles to other people, so that too can could blow it every time they caught someone littering the river.

Earlier in April, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh presided over a meeting along with Minister of Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan and other key officials to discuss the simmering issue of pollution in River Ganges.

Apart from the shrinking river, the accumulation of silt deposit and garbage along the banks has worried the environmentalists despite millions of rupees being spent on the 'Ganga Action Plan'. (ANI)