23.9.14

National Mission for Clean Ganga

The NDA government informed the Supreme Court that it proposed to spend Rs.51,000 crore in the next five years to completely stop discharge of untreated sewer and waste water from 118 towns into Ganga river. Giving a glimpse of the short-, mid and long-term vision for rejuvenation of Ganga, director of `National Mission for Clean Ganga' Rajiv Ranjan Mishra informed the court in an affidavit that short-term goals would be achieved in three years, mid term goals in five years and long term ones in 10 years or more.
“The ministry of drinking water and sanitation has contemplated scheme for making all 1,649 number of gram panchayats located on Ganga banks free from open defecation,“ Mishra said in the affidavit settled by solicitor general Ranjit Kumar.The 118 towns and 1,649 gram panchayats fall in the states of Uttarakhand, UP, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
The affidavit said the long term vision for rejuvenation of the river would emerge from the “Ganga River Basin Management Plan being prepared by the consortium of seven IITs for restoring wholesomeness of river Ganga in terms of defining concept of ensuring Nirmal Dhara, Aviral Dhara (clean and continuous flow of the river) and maintaining ecological and geographical integrity of the river“.
Mishra also informed the court that the ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation had identified seven waterfront locations for development of ghats, possibly on the lines of Sabarmati riverfront developed in Ahmedabad. The identified locations for these are Kedarnath, Haridwar, Varanasi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Patna and Delhi.
“The interventions at ghats and riverfronts are expected to facilitate better citizen connect and set the tone for river centric urban planning process,“ the Centre said in response to the apex court's September 3 order seeking details about its Ganga river rejuvenation plan.

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