Holistic approach needed for Clean Ganga mission

The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) Director General Dr Ashwani Kumar said that for preparing roadmap for DPR the focal point for each State must be identified. Speaking at the conclusion of a national-level stakeholders meeting on DPR preparation of forestry intervention for Ganga here on Friday, Kumar said identification of priority area was important to ensure time-bound completion of the project. He laid emphasis on holistic approach based on local site conditions and ecosystem while also stressing on the need for learning lessons from the past experiences related to cleaning of Ganga like the Ganga Action Plan. Moreover, criteria and indicators must be developed to monitor the success of the mission, he added.

The national-level stakeholders meet concluded with Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal presenting their components of the draft DPR. Ten models with three-tier activities were proposed for Bihar that included soil/wildlife conservation; identification of local species for plantations including bamboo, grasses and medicinal plants; agro-forestry; plantation of high quality horticulture species and nurseries like Kisan Paudhshala. It was also emphasised that wetlands of various stakeholder states must be included in the DPR like the wetland/mangrove eco-system conservation (Sunderbans protection) of West Bengal. Participants also called for elaboration of the research and development component in the DPR. Jharkhand has common elements with Bihar barring few exceptions like enforcement of mining guidelines and rehabilitation of riparian areas. Both states were emphatic on enhancing the livelihood opportunities for local populations like handicrafts and Tussar cultivation. The indigenous knowledge of the people with regards to water management must be used for cleaning the Ganga. Besides, there is a need to bring in behavioural changes in people regarding the cleaning of Ganga. Many speakers opined that adjoining states must have a synergistic interface for making the cleaning of Ganga a holistic effort. The inputs from West Bengal for cleaning Ganga were comprehensive and included various government departments/agencies like forest, environment, agriculture, horticulture, medicinal plant board, fisheries, rural and urban development. Industrial plantations were proposed for places like Birbhum, Bankura and Burdwan to boost industrial growth.

FRI director Dr Savita informed that a common and standard proforma will be developed for information collection so that a common information base of the stakeholder states may be used for DPR preparation. She also said that plantation in cleaning Ganga is not a classical afforestation but a way to treat the area for enhanced water flow. Uttarakhand’s principal chief conservator of forests, Shrikant Chandola, former PCCF RBS Rawat and other officials and experts were among those present on the occasion.