Narmada parikrama A mission to save the holy river

A non-commercial pilot of Madhya Pradesh and social activist, Shri Anil Madhav Dave in association with ?Panchvati?, the producer of organic food, undertook an aerial parikrama of Narmada river to study the deteriorating condition of the river due to pollution. He will soon submit his report to the government and also will make it open for public in one month. The project aims to find out how far the statistics registered in the government files about the river are true. Shri Dave has planned to undertake another journey of the river through waterway. The parikrama was conducted from March 27 to 30.

After undertaking the parikrama, Shri Dave pointed out that since the Sardar Sarover Dam is a huge dam it is clearly visible from Alirajpur. Addressing a gathering, he said he would write a book on the ancient, geographical and social effect of the river. Talking about the project, Shri Dave said it was an effort to understand the real condition of the river, which is visited by lakhs of devotees every year with the aim of salvation. ?It is an attempt to attract the attention of people towards the growing pollution in the river and also to the negligence to the river on the part of people. It also aims at finding out the ways and means of reviving the river,? he added. He said the reducing forest cover around the river posed a great danger to the river.

Extending warm welcome to Shri Dave, Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh said the government would take benefit of the research conducted by Shri Dave.

The project is without any foreign or government assistance.

Born at Barnagar of Ujjain in 1956, Shri Dave has worked in the field of rural economy and management. He is a non-commercial pilot. Presently he is editor of Charaiveti.

The four-day project attracted the attention of a large number of devotees who have much faith in the holy river.

The inspiration behind the Panchvati organic food, is Shri Nanaji Deshmukh who has been working on organic farming for the last more than four decades. The founder of Deendayal Research Institute, Nanaji believes that if you are using chemical fertilizer in the field you are mixing poison in your own food.