New Delhi, Nov 1 (IANS): "Namami Gange", the flagship programme of the Modi government for ensuring a clean Ganga, on Monday created a Guinness World Record by uploading the most photos with handwritten notes on its Facebook page in an hour.

Ahead of the three-day "Ganga Utsav 2021" beginning on Tuesday, "Namami Gange" had planned to set a world record for uploading the most photos by people from across the country between 11 a.m. and 12 noon.

Earlier, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), an initiative of the Jal Shakti Ministry, had urged Ganga lovers, conservationists, activists and the general public to prepare a message with a hand-written poem or a memoir or an article in the name of "Maa Ganga", click a photo with it and share it on the "Namami Gange Facebook event" page.

The Guinness World Records certificate said: "The most photos of handwritten notes uploaded to Facebook in one hour has been achieved by Namami Gange, India in Delhi, India on 1 November 2021"

Adjudicator, Guinness World Records, Rishi Nath, presented the certificate at a ceremony to Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Shekhawat.

Nath said the provisional numbers show that the record has been achieved. However, the exact numbers of photos uploaded would be declared later.

The event and the Utsav are part of the people connect, public outreach activities of the NMCG. "Namami Gange" is an integrated conservation mission, approved as a Flagship Programme' by the Centre in June 2014 with a budgetary outlay of Rs 20,000 crore to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of national River Ganga.

"Ganga Utsav" is a three-day festival celebrating river Ganga starting this year on November 2.

The NMCG has been celebrating the day of declaration of river Ganga as the 'National River' on November 4 every year to promote stakeholder engagement and ensure public participation under the aegis of the Ganga Knowledge Center.