Chief Minister Harish Rawat has said that if the Central Government provides assistance, the State can ensure 100 per cent pollution free Ganga at Haridwar. The State has prepared its action plan on this regarding the Ganga and its tributaries originating in Uttarakhand.
However, the Centre will have to provide Rs10,000 crore to the State for implementing this plan, said Rawat. He was speaking at a programme held in Rishikesh to felicitate members of an ITBP river rafting expedition team that has been raising awareness in the public on the Clean Ganga mission.
Speaking on the occasion, the CM said that the State wants to construct a Ganga bypass canal at Rishikesh so that even the treated water is not let off directly into the Ganga. The State has a similar plan for Haridwar but Central Government assistance is vital for these works, he stressed. Referring to the ITBP, Rawat said that the State Government is grateful to the force for its assistance during the 2013 disaster and the Nanda Raj Jat Yatra.
The CM also requested officers of the ITBP to facilitate medical services to people living in the border areas of Uttarakhand. Though ITBP doctors are providing medical facilities to local residents at their post, it would be better if this facility is provided in an institutionalized manner, he added. Rawat said that though the Centre had not yet provided financial assistance to Uttarakhand for the Ardh Kumbh Mela, the State had started work on the arrangements at its own level. These works include construction of five permanent bridges in Haridwar, widening of bathing ghats and construction of a new ghat in Chandighat among others. He also directed the Tehri district magistrate to get a tin-shade erected at the cremation ground in Rishikesh.
The expedition team leader commandant Surinder Khatri said that the ITBP river rafting expedition had been flagged of by Union minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Uma Bharti on October 2 at Devprayag.