Government plans to complete more than 200 projects for ‘Nirmal’ and ‘Aviral’ Ganga by March 2019
On Sunday, October 21, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that in order to realize his dream of “nirmal” and “aviral” Ganga, the government will be able to complete more than 200 projects including ghats, crematoria, river front and river cleaning by March 2019.
Gadkari said, “A total of 227 projects have been taken up for the Ganga for sewage infrastructure, ghats and crematoria, river-front development, river-surface cleaning and bio-diversity conservation, among others, at a cost of Rs 22,374 crore”.
He said, “The government plans to complete 151 ghats and 54 crematoria projects by March 2019”. He added, “Besides monitoring water quality at 138 locations, each at the interval of 20 km, projects have been taken up for 24×7 cleaning of ghats at Varanasi, Bithoor, Kanpur, Allahabad, Mathura, Vrindavan and Haridwar to avoid solid waste disposals in the river”.
Minister said, “In addition, under the bio-diversity conservation plans, several projects are being implemented for conservation and restoration of indigenous and aquatic species of the Ganga like Gangetic dolphin, river otters, turtles and aquatic birds”.
In a bid to actualise the dream of a “nirmal” and “aviral” Ganga, the govt is looking to complete about 200 projects for ghats and crematoria by March 2019@nitin_gadkarihttps://t.co/s8FtYL2QkQ
— Business Standard (@bsindia) October 21, 2018
The October 10 gazette notification provides the specifications for the flow requirements at various stretches in regard to maintain ecological flow of ganga. These specifications are based on scientific study. Under this notification states were advised to reduce the water withdrawal from the river Ganga.
Minister said, “With implementation of these specifications, the river will not be dry as these specifications were a result of scientific study”.
The notification mentioned, “The concerned central and state authorities shall implement demand side management plans to reduce water withdrawal from the river Ganga by adopting good and scientific practices such as efficient method of irrigation, reuse and recycle of water including monitoring and regulation of ground water withdrawals for various purposes”.
