Though the NDA Government has created a separate Ministry of Ganga Rejuvenation for cleaning of the Ganga, the situation has not moved up much on the ground as yet.
According to sources, the official notification related to the procedural transfers from Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) as the nodal Ministry for cleaning Ganga to the Ministry of Water Resources is still pending. This can happen after the Cabinet Secretariat issues notification for the shifting of work from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to the Ministry of Water Resources.
Even though the Government has created a Committee of Secretaries (CoS) from the ministries of Tourism, Shipping and environment as members, in absence of the notification, the transfer of files are still awaited from MoEF.
Sources informed that formally the Cabinet Secretariat is required to issue a notification stating ‘Amendment of Allocation of Business Rule’. This will officially notify the Ministry of Water Resources as the nodal Ministery for Ganga Cleaning. However, at this juncture, the MoEF continues to be the nodal Ministery for the cleaning of the Ganges. The sources informed that as a result work has come to a standstill where by the official notification is awaited.
The sources further said in this situation of uncertainty, the official transfer of files and documents from MoEF related to the projects and schemes on the Ganges is stranded.Regarding the functioning of Committee of Secretaries, the sources further informed that a Commissioner needs to be deputed to coordinate with the secretaries of the respective ministries to prepare the action plan for cleaning of the Ganges. The appointment or allotment of work to any official cannot be done against a pending notification, the sources added. The committee was supposed to prepare the road map for Ganges cleaning within a month beginning from June 6.MoEF has been implementing the Ganga Action Plan (GAP I and II) since the past three decades.
It has also been the nodal agency for implementation of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), which was constituted under the chairman ship of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Unfortunately,according to sources, the authority met only thrice since 2009 and three of its members including Magsaysay award winner Rajendra Singh had also quit in the face of complete lack of interest on the part of Government.