Mayor leads cleanliness drive on ghats

ALLAHABAD: Several corporators led by mayor Jitendra Nath Singh started a campaign to clean the banks of the Ganga and Yamuna. They were supported by local people and representatives of various social organisations. Even leaders of various political parties also participated in the cleaning operation.
The cleaning process started from the Sangam. Later on, they fanned out to various ghats. The garbage lying on the banks like wrappers of gutka, polythene and garlands were removed.
The team went to the banks of Yamuna at Gaughat, Baluaghat and Kakrahaghat. The local residents enthusiastically participated in the campaign. Another team went to Dashashwamedh Ghat in Daraganj, Rasoolabad Ghat and Shivkuti Ghat and cleaned the banks.
Castigating the state government and AMC for failing to get the ghats cleaned in the garb of imposition of code of conduct, the mayor asserted that this step is wrong.
The AMC has taken the decision of cleaning the banks of the Ganga and Yamuna from January 1 but the administration received an order from the state government that since the code of conduct is being enforced, therefore the cleaning process should be undertaken after the end of the Vidhan Parishad elections.
Rita Bahuguna Joshi, state Congress president, Reoti Raman Singh, national general secretary of Samajwadi Party, Dharam Raj Singh Patel, Shyama Krishna Pandey, Abhishek Shukla and others participated in the function.
Corporators Shiv Sewak Singh, Kamlesh Singh, Anu Ghildiyal, Kusum Lata Gupta, Umesh Dwivedi, Aquil-ur-Rehman, Mumtaz Ansari, Mukund Tiwari, Sita Mishra, Shiva Tripathi and others took part in the drive.
The municipal commissioner refused to comment when his attention was drawn over the fact that cleanliness of ghats was a routine exercise and has nothing to do with the model code of conduct. The district magistrate could not be contacted for his comments despite repeated attempts.