The audacious, unprecedented, continuous, multi-faceted and record making Atulya Ganga Parikrama, “Prayagraj- Gangasagar- Gangotri- Prayagraj”, for Ganga Rejuvenation, undertaken amidst Corona pandemic, with due precautions, when everyone was running for cover, was successfully accomplished on 23 June 2021. The team undaunted by denial of permission to enter Gangotri Reserve Forest and reach Gomukh, due to the second Corona wave, resolved to devote itself to work towards rejuvenation of Maa Ganga, and come back again in future.
• Ganga Parikrama -5530+ km, 190 days walkathon, the biggest ever Indian walk for the cause of vanishing Indian rivers – attracted wide attention and media coverage. Thousands of walkers joined the Parikrama and the message of urgency towards Ganga reached over 5 million+ people.
• Pollution Mapping-Making of Ganga Health Dashboard – During the walk, a team led by Maj Gen Bhatt identified sources of pollution into Ganga by geo-tagging 329 sewage nallahs. Using field test kits to measure 12 parameters of purity, they collected 224 samples, to arrive at purity index and prepare first ever Ganga health dashboard. In times to come, it will be a game changer by directly help in fixing location, amount of work and accountability of pollution.
• Vrikshmaal Drive – Rivers need massive forests on its flood plains to conserve soil, retain underground water and rejuvenate flora & fauna. 30,000+ trees like Bargad, Neem and Peepal were planted by our team in flood plains. A tree-mentor were nominated to ensure high survivability.
• Youth Mobilisation – Youth is the biggest stake holder on natural heritage of India. Focused on the youth & NCC, a large-scale interaction and sensitization drive ensued- touching schools, colleges, Gram Panchayats and hundreds of public meetings. Namami Gange & Incredible India – lent invaluable support to this mission.