The 2nd edition of Ganga Pustak Parikrama was flagged off today by Smt. Debashree Mukherjee, Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Govt. of India and Shri Asok Kumar, Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) during the celebrations of Ganga Utsav at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre on 04 November 2023.
Ganga Pustak Parikrama will commence its 3-month long journey from Gangotri on 7 November 2023 and pass through all cities and towns on the banks of River Ganga – Uttarkashi, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Bijnor, Meerut, Aligarh, Farrukhabad, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Chhapra, Patna, Begusarai, Sultanganj, Bhagalpur, Sahibganj, Baharampur, Kolkata, and Haldia – before ending its journey at Gangasagar on 11 January 2024.
On the occasion, latest children’s title ‘Voyage of Ganga’ published by National Book Trust-India was also released during the Ganga Utsav by Smt. Debashree Mukherjee, Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Govt. of India and Shri Asok Kumar, Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga.
The book ‘Voyage of Ganga’ is a collection of illustrated short stories for the readers of age-group 11-14 years, creating awareness about the river’s rich cultural and historical heritage and the need for its conservation. With River Ganga as the muse, this book is based on the first of the series of discourses that were held on the banks of Ganga ‘Ganga Kinare Ganga ki Baatein’ wherein the way of life, environment, literature, folklore, legends and more – all based around the river, were discussed. The stories in this book are inspired from the above discourse and find their roots in millions of readers NBT-India connected with during its pioneering initiative Ganga Pustak Parikrama organised in collaboration with the NMCG, where they shared the cultural and environmental influence of Ganga in their lives