Kanwan (Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh): Over 200 men, women and children, became a part of the drive to clean the banks of Gangi River on Saturday.
About 22 trolleys of silt, plastic and dirt were removed in three hours. In all, 16 social organisations of the village participated in the drive, an initiative of Kanva-Van Seva Sansthan in which people were invited to clean the river and its surrounding areas.
Men, women and children began cleaning at 7 am as they removed silt, plastic and dirt from around half-kilometre area from Math Mandir to Nageshwar Mandir. They also cleaned the dirt from river. It was a perennial river till 40 years back and its water was safe for drinking. The river water irrigated large chunks of land. At present, it is a dirty drain.
At the end of the drive, 19 sweepers of the village were felicitated with garlands, shawls and coconuts. A two-day long padyatra covering 30 kilometres was launched by Kanva-Van Seva Sansthan to revive the river. In the first phase of drive, people contributed to cleaning the river.
