Ban meat, liquor consumption in holy towns along Narmada, MP CM Mohan Yadav tells officials

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has asked officials to ensure meat and liquor are not consumed in and around religious towns located along the Narmada river, considered the lifeline of the state.

There are 21 districts, 68 tehsils, 1138 villages and 1126 ghats as well as 430 ancient Shiva temples and two 'shakti peeths' along the banks of the river.

Chairing a meeting of officials on Friday, Yadav also said Amarkantak in Anuppur district, from where the Narmada originates, must be given top priority for environmental protection.

"It must be ensured that meat and liquor are not consumed in and around the religious towns and places located on the banks of Narmada River. Future settlements, land should be identified away from the Narmada river's origin and a satellite city should be developed. Sewage should not be released into the Narmada. Work on it must be done within a time limit," Yadav said.

Latest technologies should be used for solid waste management, while satellite imagery and drone systems must be deployed for monitoring of activities along the river in order to enhance environmental protection, he said.

Asserting that all mining activities by machines must be banned, Yadav pointed out Narmada is the only river in the world whose 'parikrama' (circumambulation) is done by devotees.

In order to make it a major religious and tourism activity, work should be done in a phased manner to develop a 'parikrama path' for the convenience of devotees, he added.

"Activities for infrastructure development should be started through local panchayats and committees by marking places on the Parikrama Path. Self-help groups and local youth should be encouraged to develop homestays with arrangement of food etc for people undertaking parikrama of the river," Yadav said.

Of the river's 1312 kilometres, a dominant 1,079 km is in Madhya Pradesh.