Please Mind the GAP

Clean Ganga?

Recently I had gone to Rishikesh to do some river rafting and after completing the rafting near Muni-ki-Reti in Rishikesh I was just walking along the banks of the Ganga (or Ganges) and I was shocked to see a funeral pyre right on the banks of the river from which ash and other pollutants were entering the river directly.

Now the Government of India along with various state governments have been pumping millions of tax payers' rupees right from 1986 under the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) to clean the river. I wonder where all the money is going (You & I of course know) if they cannot even shift the burning of bodies away from the banks even from main tourist towns like Rishikesh. Think about all the other places where the industrial effluents are being released in the Ganga with impunity.

We definitely have to mind this GAP!

Also read earlier posts on Rishikesh -
Rafting Down the Ganges
Garud Chatti Temple, Rishikesh
Neergarh Falls: Rishikesh
Garud Chatti Waterfalls in Rajaji National Park