Patna: While welcoming the 20-member all-women Ganga river rafting expedition 2024 team here on Wednesday, urban development and housing department minister Nitin Nabin said the expedition, being carried out by the women members to spread the message of women empowerment and a clean Ganga, was no less than a pilgrimage. The minister was speaking as the chief guest at a function organised to honour the all-women Border Security Force (BSF) team.
"It is a very proud moment for all of us to see how our daughters have embarked on a mission to showcase and spread awareness among people about women empowerment and the Namami Gange programme that focuses on making and retaining the cleanliness of the river Ganga," the minister said at a function jointly organized by the BSF and National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).
He added that any work undertaken by women members in their hands was bound to succeed and the same positive result was expected in the present case as well. "Be it a matter of cleanliness or of the country's welfare, if women are given importance and brought to the front row, every effort is destined to be successful," he said.
The only-women BSF team, which reached NIT Ghat here on Tuesday evening, will cover a total distance of around 2,500km in a 53-day journey that began from Devprayag in Uttarakhand on November 2 and will conclude at Gangasagar in West Bengal on December 24. The river rafting expedition, which aims to spread the combined message of women empowerment and a clean Ganga, is set to cover five states, including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Several BSF and NMCG officers, along with state govt officials and NCC cadets, were also present on the occasion.