New Delhi, Chacha Chaudhary, a popular Indian cartoon character, has been declared as the mascot of the Namami Gange Programme, the Union Jal Shakti Ministry said on Friday.
The decision was taken at the 37th executive committee meeting of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) chaired by its Director General Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, the Ministry said in a statement.
"NMCG has always been into community engagement with special focus on youth and children. This association will be one more step towards it," Mr Mishra said.
In the meeting, Ashok Kumar Singh, Executive Director (ED), Projects, presented the project details and shared that Chacha Chaudhary can be useful in ground-level activation for Ganga rejuvenation.
"NMCG has been focusing on youth as part of its outreach and public communications efforts as they are the impellers of change. As a step towards this NMCG has tied-up with Diamond Toons to develop and distribute comics, e-comics and animated videos. The content will be designed with the objective of bringing about behavioral change amongst children towards Ganga and other rivers," the statement added.
Initially, the comics will be launched in Hindi, English and Bengali.
The total estimated budget for the project is Rs 2.26 core, it added.
Some major projects in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were also discussed and evaluated in the meeting.