Atal Bihari Vajpayee farewell: UP govt identifies 40 rivers, tributaries to immerse ashes

“He (Atal) had a major contribution to the state, so the government has decided to give opportunity to people in every district to be part of his last journey. As per the initial programme, an event would be held in each of the 75 districts before his ashes are immersed in the rivers flowing through it,” said Chief Secretary Anoop Chandra Pandey.

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Among the rivers identified are known rivers like Yamuna, which passes through Agra, where Atal was born, Allahabad, Auraiya, Banda, Chitrakoot, Etawah, Fatehpur, Gautam Budh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Kanpur Dehat, Mathura, and Saharanpur; Ganga, which passes through Aligarh, Amroha, Bulandshahr, Chandauli, Farukhabad, Fatehpur, Ghazipur, Kannauj, Kanpur Nagar, Kasganj, Kaushambi, Mirzapur, Varanasi and Unnao; and Gomti, which passes through Sultanpur, Varanasi, Sitapur, Lucknow, Lakhimpur Kheri and Jaunpur.

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These apart, Ghaghra, Gandak, Hindon Betwa, Rapti, Son, Rihand, Ramganga, Sayi, Tons, Arind and Karvan are among the identified rivers and tributaries.

A government spokesperson said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered immersion of Vajpayee’s ashes in every district as Uttar Pradesh was his “karma bhumi” and every region of the state had a close link with him.

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Chief Secretary Pandey told The Indian Express that the government is also finalising the nature of four memorials — in his birthplace, Bateshwar in Agra; in Kanpur, where he pursued higher studies; in Balrampur, from where he was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time and in Lucknow, which he represented five times in Parliament.

“Soon, these memorials would be given final shape. There could be a museum or things associated with him to keep his memories alive,” Pandey said.