VIJAYAWADA: As part of Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Krishna River Festival was held at Berm Park here on Wednesday. Principal Secretary (Irrigation) KS Jawahar Reddy participated in the event and observed that it was a tradition and responsibility of the public to conserve the sacred Krishna and Godavari rivers along with worshipping them.
“Although we have many festivals, it is our tradition to conduct another festival, Pushkarams, to worship the rivers that affect our lives. Pushkarams are conducted once in every 12 years rivers in the country. To this end, the youngsters should come forward to keep the rivers clean,” he said.
Jawahar Reddy further urged the youth to take an initiative of planting trees in river basins within the city limits. A series of programmes have been planned for the event which will conclude on December 23.
Later in the day, Jawahar Reddy along with Collector J Nivas and Municipal Commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh participated in a cleanliness drive near Punnami Ghat and cleared the water hyacinth. He also planted saplings on the premises of the ghat.
On the occasion, the Principal Secretary interacted with the sanitation workers of VMC and commended their efforts for making Vijayawada the third cleanest city and also for achieving five-star rating under Garbage-free cities category in Swachh Survekshan-2021 survey.