Bid to clean Bashistha

By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, May 27: In a bid to prevent the Basistha river from being polluted further and to develop Basistha Ashram as a tourist spot, two NGOs have stepped in Voice of Environment’, Northeast Wetland’ and the Basistha Mandir Committee held a plantation drive followed by a discussion on the premises of the Ashram recently. Threats to the Holy river came up for discussion. Basistha Mandir Committee president Alkesh Sam Kashyap laid stress on the eco-tourism prospects of the Ashram. He said: “The mythology of 1000 years yore of the river demands immediate action for proper conservation and strategies to maintain the flow of the river undisrupted.”  The Bashishtha river marks the confluence of three streams from Meghalaya, famous for their clean water – Lalita, Sandhya and Kanta. However, as soon as the river enters Assam, its water gets polluted badly. Social worker and advocate Gunjan Sarma said: “Bashishtha temple is rich in biodiversity.