BJP workers take up river cleaning in Uttar Pradesh

Workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today launched a campaign to clean Gomti River in Uttar Pradesh on the lines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Clean River Ganges' project.

Workers, who removed weeds from the river bank, said river Gomti was a tributary of river Ganges only and it also required a clean-up.

"The condition of the river is so bad that one cannot even drink this water or even bathe in it. You can see the bad state of river banks. Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to bring every section of the society together and, in addition to government's efforts, carry out the cleaning campaign,"said city unit president of BJP, Manohar Singh.

Modi, elected in May to represent the 3,000-year-old riverside city of Varanasi, has taken personal responsibility for restoring Maa Ganga, or "Mother Ganges", as part of a broader push to husband India's scarce water resources and improve standards of public health and hygiene.