One-day Bagmati River Festival ‘Maha Jal Yatra’ has kicked off on the bank of Bagmati River in Kupondole on Saturday morning.

The gala that was organised to mark 223rd weeks of Mega Bagmati River Clean-up Campaign, the festival of 21st century, was inaugurated by cultural export and litterateur Satya Mohan Joshi.

 Nepal’s ambassador to China Leela Mani Paudyal, mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City Chiri Babu Maharjan and Jyoti Kumar Shrestha project manager at High Powered Committee for Integrated Development of the Bagmati Civilization (HPCIDBC) among others were present in the programme.

The festival was jointly organised by Friends’ Club Kopundole and Nepal River conservation Trust.

 “Every country has its own civilization that is linked with the major rivers, same is with the Bagmati River, if we restore the river to its original pristine state, we can conserve our ancient civilization and culture,” said Joshi.

“The Bagmati River is in a terrible state due to the sheer negligence of all of us,” he said, adding, “I am happy that people have gradually started to understand the significane of the holy river.”

Art competition, rickshaw ride, horse ride and art photo exhibition among other activities have also been organised to mark the 223rd weeks of Mega Bagmati River Clean-up Campaign.

The main attraction of the programme is rafting in the Bagmati River.

Talking to the Post, ambassador Paudyal, who is also an initiator of the Bagmati River Clean-up Campaign that started on May 18, 2013, said, “I am happy to see the presence of a large number of people in the festival.

“If we rest the responsibility to clean the Bagmati River on our shoulder, it will not take a long time to reach our objective,” he added.

He also thanked the mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City Maharjan for taking his leadership in cleaning the Bagmati River. 

Speaking at the beginning of the festival, Maharjan expressed his commitment to do needful to keep the Bagmati River clean.

On the occasion, popular folk music ensemble Kutumba, Rock Satsang, Karmanasha and other local bands will perform at the festival.