PM Modi Calls Five Chief Ministers to Review Clean Ganga Plans
NEW DELHI: For several months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been reprimanded by the Supreme Court for moving too slowly on an initiative to clean the Ganga. On Thursday, Mr Modi will meet at his residence in Delhi with the Chief Ministers of five states to review the measures taken by them to further his ambitious initiative.
The heads of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand will be asked to update Mr Modi on how they are working to rid the sacred river of industrial effluent and untreated sewage.
The “purification of Maa Ganga” was one of the major election promises made by Mr Modi to the riverside and ancient city of Varanasi, which elected him to parliament last year.
The Prime Minister will ask the five chief ministers to share detailed reports on the amount of sewage that the Ganga receives in their states, and whether and how quickly they can install sewage treatment plants.
Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati has told Parliament that 144 drains discharge sewage into the Ganga; West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh are home to most of them.
The government has devised action plans for ‘short-term’ (3 years), ‘medium-term’ (5 years) and ‘long-term’ (10 years and more) for cleaning the Ganga. But they have failed to impress the Supreme Court, which has been dealing since 1985 with a Public Interest Litigation or PIL that demands the restoration of the river.
Mr Modi’s government announced an additional Rs. 2,040 crores for a new “Ganga Mission” in its first budget.
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Source:Ndtv
