THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Jalswaraj, one of the major green campaigns the BJP is planning in the state, will be officially inaugurated at Sasthamcotta on Monday. Addressing a news meet here the other day, noted sculptor Kanayi Kunhiraman, filmmaker Rajasenan and BJP state general secretary A N Radhakrishnan said Jalswaraj, a people’s forum for conservation of water, would be an attempt to sensitise the people about the urgent need for recharging the water bodies to conserve the ground water level and avoid Kerala becoming a desert.
They said Union Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Narendra Singh Tomar would inaugurate the state-level function. Magsaysay-Stockholm award winner Rajendra Singh will be the chief guest. The organising committee with Kanayi Kunhiraman as chairman and Rajasenan as general convener has been formed. Experts from water and environment sectors will be part of the committee.
BJP will be organising large-scale programmes to sensitise the people about water conservation from January 2 to June 5, the World Environment Day. Training camps for Jalswaraj volunteers will be held at 18,000 centres. The nurseries for tree saplings to be planted have already been started. In every booth, 25 volunteers each would be trained to form ‘Jalmithras’, numbering 4,50,000. The training for 1,000 faculty members has already been completed.
The campaign includes digging of 10 lakh rain pits, cleaning of 1,000 ponds, construction of 1,000 check dams, soil conservation efforts, cleaning of rivulets, protection of small forests and mangrove forests, waste treatment, ground water recharging, rain harvesting and other environmental measures. Campaign literature would be distributed to 78 lakh households. Special programmes will be held on the occasion of World Water Day on March 22. Competitions, debates, water cruises, public forums and water fests would be held.