This Article is From Sep 02, 2014

Committed to Clean Ganga: Centre Tells Supreme Court

Committed to Clean Ganga: Centre Tells Supreme Court

File Photo: Narendra Modi performs the "Ganga Puja" with Rajnath Singh and other party leaders on the banks of the River Ganga in Varanasi on May 17.

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government today told the Supreme Court that it is committed to clean Ganga, which was its pre-poll promise, and steps would be taken to prevent
pollution of the holy river.

In a affidavit filed in the apex court, the Centre said a consortium of IIT professionals have been entrusted with the task of finalizing holistic Ganga River Basin Management and it will submit their report by the end of December this year.

The Centre said it has accorded a status of national priority to the rejuvenation of Ganga and ecological flow of the river will be maintained.

It also stated that restoring ecological sanctity of the river will be the prime focus and one of the major steps is creating awareness about the conservation of river and ensuring peoples' participation in the process.

The affidavit also stated that the Government has been actively considering the appropriate modification and restructuring of National Ganga River Basin Authority or NGRBA to make it more effective.

Reminding Modi government that cleaning of Ganga was on its poll manifesto, the Supreme Court had asked why urgent steps are not being taken on it and set a two-week timeline for it to come up with a road map for making the 2500 km long
river pollution free.

A bench headed by Justice T S Thakur had said the issue of cleaning Ganga is very important. The bench had adjourned the matter asking the Centre to file affidavit within two weeks giving details about what it proposes to do for cleaning the river.

The government had earlier informed that the NGRBA, the nodal agency involved in the clean Ganga mission, has been transferred from MoEF to the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.

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