Holding that “wrong planning” led to the pollution in Ganga, Union Minister Uma Bharti on Thursday launched 43 projects worth Rs250 crore under Namami Gange programme in Uttarakhand, saying that the Modi Government is taking corrective steps to cleanse the river.
“The Ganga has not been polluted because of untreated water as much as because of wrong planning. Projects being launched under Namami Gange are corrective steps to atone for what has been done over the years to dirty the river,” she said here.
The Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation said that the ambitous scheme of the Centre will not only cleanse the river and maintain its flow, but will also ensure that the Rs4,000 crore spent on the river under Ganga Action Plan in 29 years since 1985 (till 2014) do not go waste.
Announcing that the Centre is mulling passage of a legislation called the Ganga Act in Parliament for the success of Namami Gange, Bharti said industries will not just be debarred from dumping their untreated waste into the river but treated waste as well will be diverted for irrigation purposes.
The preliminary draft of the Act will be sent to the states for opinion and the final draft will be prepared based on it, she said.
Bharti said the Ganga flows through her veins more than blood and renewed her pledge to begin a Ganga Padayatra in October to create awareness among the people about the advantages of a clean Ganga and how they could contribute to it.
Director of Namami Gange Rajat Bhargav said the projects launched include expansion of the ghats, tree plantation along them, consctruction of sewage treatment plants and developing adequate civic amenities along the banks of the river.
Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Mahesh Sharma, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat and former chief minister and Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank were present on the occasion.
A total of 231 projects worth Rs1,500 crore are being launched at 100 places across the country on Thursday under Namami Gange.
Terming the Ganga as “national heritage”, Gadkari saidthe goal of a ‘Clean Ganga’ cannot be achieved without public participation. The Union Transport Minister also underscored the need for educating school and college students towards keeping the river clean and urged youths to contribute to the cause voluntarily.
On his part, Sharma announced that the Tourism and Culture Ministry will launch a ‘e-tourism programme’ along Ganga ghats within three months.
Extending Uttarakhand’s support to the 43 centrally sponsored projects to be implemented in the northern State, Rawat demanded the Centre approve Rs10,000 crore water security scheme of the state to make available clean water in areas between Rishikesh and Haridwar, the statement said.
“We will do in right earnest whatever task is assigned to us to keep the Ganga clean and its flow uninterrupted,” he said, adding
Uttarakhand is the first State to give a bonus for tree plantation which is crucial for the success of the programme.
On his government’s water conservation efforts, Rawat said clean Ganga water will soon be available in Haridwar and Uttarkashi and laid emphasis on a “holistic approach” to cleanse the river.
Claiming that the practice of open defecation has been brought to an end at 45 per cent of the places in the state, Rawat said efforts are on to make the rest of the State, especially villages on the banks of the Ganga and its tributaries, open defecation-free.
Meanwhile, the Governm-ent also launched a song, ‘Namami Gange Anthem’, composed by brothers Srikrishna and Ramkumar Mohan. An application which will help monitor level of pollution in the river was also launched during the programme. National Mission for Clean Ganga Mission Director Rajat Bhargava also attended the event in Haridwar.