Human chain marks 100th week of Bagmati clean-up

A Nepalese Hindu devotee offers prayers as he takes holy bath before collecting water from the Bagmati river during the "Bol Bom" pilgrimage at Sudarijaal, outskirts of Kathmandu.

Over one lakh people joined hands to form a human chain on Saturday to mark the 100th week of the Bagmati Cleaning Mega Campaign.

Thousands of people began trickling in early in the morning to form the chain over a 28-km-stretch from Sundarijal to Chobhar in the capital, along the banks of the river. Vice-president Parmanand Jha, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist) chairman K.P. Oli, and UCPN (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamala Dahal were among the participants.

People from all walks of life, including leaders of political parties, ministers, bureaucrats, members of civil society and the business community took part in the human chain.

At Sundarijal, Chief Secretary Lila Mani Paudyal — the man credited with conceiving and spearheading the campaign — read out a public oath to keep the river clean. Mr. Paudyal began the campaign to clean the Bagmati, considered sacred by Hindus and one of the dirtiest rivers in the country, on May 18, 2013.

‘Nothing is impossible’

“This has demonstrated that no goal is impossible if we are committed to achieving it. The campaign will inspire Nepal to maintain a clean environment, peace, democracy and development,” said Mr. Koirala, at Tilganga section of the river, close to the Pashupatinath temple.

According to reports, Mr. Dahal said the spirit of unity displayed during the campaign would inspire the Constitution-writing process.