Ganga clean up mission gets a boost with Army men standing guard

Very soon, a dirty and polluted Ganga would be history because the task of maintaining vigil over its holy waters would be shared by Army men - they will warn people against dirtying the River Ganga and would create awareness among the people about the demerits of polluting the holy river. The Army men would also carry out plantation drives on its banks.
The Ganga cleaning authorities have hired a battalion of the Indian Army for a period of five years for undertaking this task. Subsequently, three more battalions would be added later.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 4 January 2016.

The Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation have set up a Ganga Task Force through Army battalions and they will keep vigil on whoever throws waste in Ganga. Moreover, these Army men would be contact point for the common man in case they have information regarding any industrial unit discharging waste into the river.
The first Army battalion would be stationed at Allahabad Cantonment. At a later date, this battalion will be replaced by the ministry's own team comprising mainly ex-servicemen who reside in villages on the banks of the Ganga.
Incidentally, the Ganga Rejuvenation ministry would be spending around Rs 75 crore on one battalion that will be headed by an officer of the rank of a colonel. The Army would be given funds of Rs 300 crore over the next five years against the four battalions.
It has been clarified that these men would not be policing, rather they will act a watchdogs and keep vigil on the affluent discharging industrial units. They will receive complaints against anyone who is polluting the river. These personnel would be deployed along the 2,625-Km stretch of the river from Gaumukh in Uttarakhand to Ganga Sagar in West Bengal.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)


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Uma Bharti wants dam construction in Ganga to stop

#namamiganga #narendramodi #umabharti Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given responsibility of cleaning the Ganga to Union water resources minister Uma Bharti but, there appears to be a clash of interest brewing because, in the opinion of Uma Bharti, constructing new dams would hamper the cleaning of the Ganga.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 24 June 2015.

Hinting that her concerns were the hydro-power projects, she has asked different ministries including environment and power to have a cautious approach while allowing construction of any new dam on the river.
There are six contentious hydro power projects in Uttarakhand which could severely affect the ecological flow of the Ganga. Environmentalists have already asked for scrapping such projects that could lead to another June, 2013-like disaster in the region.
Uma Bharti has urged the environment and power ministers to consider alternate proposals like solar energy instead if constructing dams to generate hydro-electricity in Uttarakhand. She has also agreed to pay compensation of Rs 20,000-crores from the ‘Namami Ganga’ funds to the companies\stakeholders if they decide to scrap these projects.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Ganga Action Plan – a pet project that keeps surfacing only to get drowned

#GangaActionPlan #NamamiGanga #opendefecation #pollution The NDA government of the day appears to be serious about the clean Ganga mission that once upon a time be used to be known as the Ganga Action Plan and has now been revived after 28-years and renamed as Namami Ganga Project with an initial allocation of Rs 2,037 crores.
In order to prove its seriousness to the project, the drinking water and sanitation ministry has asked five state governments to submit their detailed action plan by April 15. Through this move, it would be ensured that the state governments indicate their commitment to improve sanitation along river Ganga as a part of the clean Ganga mission. It should not remain only on the paper.

It may be recalled that the ‘Ganga Action Plan or GAP was a program that was launched in January 1986 to reduce the pollution load on the river. But the efforts to decrease the pollution level in the river were unsuccessful even after spending Rs 9017 million’ as indicated in this reference. The GAP was subsequently withdrawn in 2000.
No one knows for sure how many crores of rupees would have actually been swallowed up by the project to clean the Ganga under the GAP in order to give it the look of the Thames or the Danube. The fact remains that Ganga continues to be the same old Ganga that carries corpses of humans, animals and flowers that are offered to please the hundreds of Gods and Goddesses who reside in the innumerable villages, towns and cities along its route.
This plan now envisages that the governments of the states through the Ganga flows, namely Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, should submit the details of targets and achievements in areas including building of individual household toilets and number of open defecation villages.
On a rough estimate, there are a total of 1,657 gram panchayats involved in 253 blocks of 53 districts that are adjoining the Ganga – these are to be made open defecation free on priority. The breakdown is - Uttar Pradesh has a maximum of 959 such gram panchayats, Bihar has 309 while there are 224 are in West Bengal.
Those who know how the government works will realize that these demands are to prepare the grounds for excuses and delays. Wonder why there is no mention of controlling the pollution caused by flow of industrial wastes into the waters of the Ganga.

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