Human chain marks 100th week of Bagmati campaign in Nepal

Over one lakh people including Prime Minister Sushil Koirala formed a 56 kilometre human chain here to mark the 100th week of the clean Bagmati campaign, aimed at creating awareness on keeping the historic river clean.
Apart from the Prime Minister, UCPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda and CPN-UML chairman K P Sharma Oli participated in the event yesterday in which around 96 metric tonnes of solid waste, the highest quantity in a single day, was removed from the river.
The event was aimed at creating awareness among the people on keeping the historic river clean by not dumping waste and sewage, that flow near the Pashupatinath Temple, according to the organisers.

Chief cabinet secretary Lilamani Poaudel and Chairman of the Constituent Assembly Subhas Nemwang also attended the event.
A large number of people including politicians, civil society representatives, government officials, artists, businessmen, lawyers, journalists and representatives of various national and international organisations, took part in the event who lined up along the both sides of the 28 km stretch of the river from Sundarijal in the eastern part of Kathmandu to Chobhar in the southern part of the city.
"The campaign has exemplified the importance of public participation in protecting the river and local environment," said Koirala while addressing the gathering.

"Nothing is impossible if there is strong determination and peoples participation," he added.
"We are overwhelmed by the huge participation in the campaign that is aimed at drawing attention towards the sad state of the holy river and encouraging people to improve its condition," said chief secretary Poudel, one of the key members leading the drive since its launch in May, 2013.
So far, over 3,000 metric tonnes of waste has been removed the river during campaign. The campaign would go further in coming days and will focus on improvement of the quality of the water flowing in the river.