Programme – World Water Day
Venue: Bateshwar, Agra
Date: March 22

Paryavaran Mitra led a successful campaign to clean Yamuna river to commemorate World Water Day. Bateshwar is an ancient religious site in the Agra region. 108 temples adorn the shores of the river. Paryavran Mitra organised a massive cleaning of temple compounds and organised tree plantation and waste organisation.

Local shops were discouraged to use polythene bags and offer Prasad in paper bags to avoid polyhtene bags ending up in the river. The shop-owners were requested to spruce up the area around their shops and separate wet and dry waste.

On the day, Kiran Bajaj led a large group to clean the main temple as well as the crematorium. The waste from these areas were separated. Devotees to the ghat were requested to follow the basic environmental etiquettes and not pollute the river with plastic bags and other waste.

A slogan ran along these lines:
Those who pollute Yamuna river, will always remain a beggar.
Those who keep her waters clean, will be washed off all their sins.