The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to host a Rs 15-crore event at Amarkantak, in the state, on November 11 to kick off a 12-day-long campaign to create awareness on the need for the conservatio
The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to host a Rs 15-crore event at Amarkantak, in the state, on November 11 to kick off a 12-day-long campaign to create awareness on the need for the conservation of the Narmada river.
The event is expected to be attended by 80 religious and spiritual leaders, besides a handful of environment activists who would deliberate on the conservation of the “sacred” river.
While the budget for the event has been earmarked at Rs 15 crore, only Rs 5.71 crore has been set aside for undertaking the four-month-long campaign that would follow the November 11 show.
“I do not understand the logic behind hosting an expensive showpiece event just to kick off a campaign. It creates doubts among the people if the state government is at all serious on its purpose,” noted green activist P. Trivedy said.
Rs 8.87 crore has been set aside for giving publicity to the campaign, which is being organised by the MP Jan Abhiyan Parishad (MPJAP).
The religious leaders and environmentalists who are expected to grace the occasion will be given a travel allowance of Rs 30,000 and accommodation allowance of Rs 10,000 along with per diem allowance and vehicle allowance of Rs 4,000 each, sources in the MPJAP told this newspaper on Friday.
The religious leaders who have been invited to the event included Dwarka Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, Swami Avdeshanand Giri and Swami Chidananad Saraswati besides the green activists Rajendra Singh and Anupam Mishra.
