Government plans to set up 'Ganga Museum'

New Delhi [India],Nov 30 (ANI): The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) organised a two-day international workshop on "Developing a Ganga Museum Concept: Exchanging Experiences and Ideas between India and Europe" along with GIZ India as part of Indo-German development co-operation.
In its mission to clean and rejuvenate the holy river, NMCG's main focus is to enhance public participation. To increase awareness among the masses about the importance of the holy river, NMCG has been reaching out to the public in numerous ways.
As part of the public outreach activities, the establishment of the Ganga Museum and Interpretation Center has been visualised by NMCG as a key platform for dissemination of information related to Ganga river's history, mythology as well as its rejuvenation.
"We've organised two-day international workshop for the development of a concept of the Ganga Museum," said UP Singh, the Secretary of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
Stressing at the importance of river Ganga, he said, "Ganga is not a river but a civilisation in flow and there are so many aspects of river Ganga and to highlight all these aspects the Indian government is planning to set up a museum."
Director General of NMCG, Rajiv Ranjan Mishra said that museum is going to be the part of the many public outreach programs that are being carried out under the Namami Gange Mission. "We have different kinds of strategies for public outreach and we thought that having some good exhibition on river Ganga and slowly developing a Ganga Museum should be the next step," he said.
Experts from around the world were invited to pitch in ideas and share their expertise for the museum. "We don't have so much of experience in constructing river museums," said Mishra, adding, "so we thought of discussing our plans with experts in the field."
"This workshop was primarily organised to have the experience of international experts, primarily the European ones," he concluded.
International experts, who shared their knowledge and expertise with the NMCG team and Indian delegates, believe that the museum will play a crucial role in enhancing public participation and make them aware of the ways to keep the pious river clean.
German Museum Expert Hans-Jorg Czech said, "It was an interesting process to discuss about the vision and the mission, the different ways to realise Ganga Museum project. The idea itself to plan a museum is a fantastic thing and it has so many chances to express the fantastic aspects of the river Ganga to people." (ANI)