To pay respect to rivers and make people understand their importance, the Gujarat government will organise a five-day festival dedicated to them at four different locations in the state, said a minister on Wednesday.
The event, ‘Nadi Utsav’ (river festival), will be held from December 26 to 30.
The inaugural state-level “Nadi Utsav” event will be held on the banks of the Tapi river in Surat city in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, said Education Minister and government spokesperson Jitu Vaghani after a Cabinet meeting in Gandhinagar.
“During these five days, various religious as well as cultural events will be held on the banks of Tapi in Surat, the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, the Narmada in Bharuch and at Garudeshwar in Narmada district. Aarti (a religious ritual), marathon, seminars, cleaning drives and other awareness events will be held at these places during the Nadi Utsav,” Vaghani said.
The festival will end on December 30 with a “maha-aarti” on the banks of the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad in the presence of Bhupendra Patel, the minister told reporters.
The state government would also observe “Good Governance Week” between December 26 and 31 as part of the “Good Governance Day” celebrated across the country every year on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on December 25, said Vaghani.
On December 25, the Chief Minister will celebrate the “Good Governance Day” by launching various schemes, policies and mobile applications of different departments, he said.
The state-level valedictory event will be held in Rajkot on December 31 in the presence of the CM, said Vaghani.
In another decision taken during the Cabinet meeting, Vaghani said the upcoming state board exams for Classes 10 and 12 have been postponed by two weeks so that students get more time to study.
As per the current time-table, the board exams were scheduled between March 14 and 30, but now they will be conducted from March 28 to April 12, 2022, he added.