As the Government aims to make River Ganga to be one of the cleanest river systems of the world by October 2018, the Union Health Minister JP Nadda on Monday proposed a study to be conducted by country’s top research institutes to investigate whether its water has medicinal properties which can kill bacteria and microbes as claimed in Indian ancient literature and various studies.
Experts from the premier institute AIIMS in New Delhi, along with scientists from IIT Kanpur and Roorkee, Banaras Hindu University, National Environmental Research Institute (NEERI) and National Botanical Research Institute, will come together soon to conduct the study to be completed within next six months.
“In a world increasingly fighting various kinds of new and more powerful drug resistant bacteria and germs, such a study which explores and examines what is it that lends this unique property to the Ganga water that not only cleanse itself by destroying germs and microbes present in it, but also purifies other waters, is worth conducting,” said Nadda.
The Minister, who was speaking at the workshop organised by the AIIMS on the “Non-purefying properties of Ganga Water”, also assured all support for this research including financial assistance.
He said that the valuable scientific evidence generated as a result of this research and in-depth study will help to understand the medicinal properties of the Ganga water. Another workshop to discuss and deliberate on the findings of the research will be held after six months, he added.
Union Minister for Water Resources, Uma Bharti highlighted that despite crores of people taking a dip in the river during numerous religious occasions very year, the river has not led to any pandemic or epidemic. The study will help in using the Ganga water with this unique property for a larger welfare and health of mankind.
later, speaking at the First Water Innovation Summit organised by CII-Triveni Water Institute, she said delays and failures in implementation of schemes in the past for river cleaning were mainly due to a dual financial model i.e, central-State financial model, DPRs not getting completed on time and lack of ownership and responsibility amongst stakeholders.
“All these gaps are now being internalised where a new financial model of implementation is likely to emerge that ensures100 per cent centrally-sponsored scheme and allocation of `20,000 crores straight from the central pool,” she added.