Centre mulls law to clean Ganga

The Centre is preparing a draft Ganga Act to ensure faster execution of Namami Gange programme, Union Water Resource Minister Uma Bharti said on Thursday in Haridwar.

"The Centre is considering enacting a law, Ganga Act, through Parliament for the success of Namami Gange programme. Under this Act, the industries will not be allowed to dump their untreated waste into Ganga. This will be banned," said Bharti launching 43 projects worth Rs 250 crore under the ambitious Namami Gange programme.

According to a study by the Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee, over 700 tanneries are responsible for causing polluting Ganga at Kanpur alone. The preliminary draft of the proposed law will be sent to the states for opinion and the final draft will be prepared based on it, she said.
 

Stating that "wrong planning" led to the pollution in Ganga, Bharti said the Narendra Modi-led government is taking corrective steps to cleanse the river. "The Ganga has not been polluted because of untreated water as much as because of wrong planning. Projects being launched under Namami Gange are corrective steps to atone for what has been done over the years to dirty the river," she said.

Bharti said the Ganga flows through her veins more than blood and renewed her pledge to begin a Ganga Padayatra in October to create awareness among the people about the advantages of a clean Ganga and how they could contribute to it.

Director of Namami Gange Rajat Bhargav said the projects launched include expansion of the ghats, tree plantation along them, consctruction of sewage treatment plants and developing adequate civic amenities along the banks of the river.

Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Mahesh Sharma, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat and former chief minister and Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank were present on the occasion.

A total of 231 projects worth Rs 1,500 crore are being launched at 100 places across the country on Thursday under Namami Gange.

Bharti said those found responsible for dumping industrial waste into the Ganga will be sent to jail. She said that Namami Gange will achieve its objective by 2018 but its effects will begin to be visible by the end of this year.

Gadkari said by launching 231 projects worth Rs 1,500 crore, Bharti has proved her commitment towards the Ganga, adding that work on 60 sewage treatment plants and 50 other big projects under the mission will commence this year.

The Uttarakhand Chief Minister said the Ganga originates from the state and promised total cooperation to the Centre in achieving the objectives of Namami Gange.

"We will do in right earnest whatever task is assigned to us to keep the Ganga clean and its flow uninterrupted," he said, adding that Uttarakhand is the first state to give a bonus for tree plantation which is crucial to the success of the programme.

On his government's water conservation efforts, Rawat said clean Ganga water will soon be available in Haridwar as in Uttarkashi and put emphasis on a "holistic approach" to cleanse the river. Saying that the practice of open defecation has been brought to an end at 45 per cent of the places in the state, Rawat said efforts are on to make the rest of the state, especially villages on the banks of the Ganga and its tributaries, open defecation-free zones.