Clean Ganga became the mantra of the Water Resources Ministry in 2014 as it tried to revive failed missions to cleanse the polluted river with a slew of measures and plans to rein in polluting industries through "tamper-free" monitoring.
The Narendra Modi government witnessed a plethora of activities to change the clumsy state of the holy river, after BJP included rejuvenation of river Ganga in its poll manifesto.
The ministry was rechristened by adding Ganga Rejuvenation to it and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharati, who had aggressively took up movements for the purpose in the past, was made the cabinet minister.
In the Union Budget, the NDA government announced Rs 2,037 crore for an integrated programme 'Namami Ganga' to conserve the river.
A group comprising secretaries drawn from various ministries was constituted for preparing a roadmap on cleaning the river, while the water resources ministry engaged with industries spread across the banks of Ganga for solutions to stop effluents and untreated water directly reaching the river.
Meanwhile, the government suffered a jolt when the Supreme Court pulled it up over unchecked pollution in the Ganga and sought a road map for making it pollution free, reminding the BJP that cleaning of the river was in its poll manifesto.
After the apex court rap, the government in September placed before it a blueprint of short, medium and long term measures that spread over 18 years and thousands of crore of investment to restore the glory of the river.
The NDA government submitted that it has identified 118 towns situated on banks of the Ganga as a first target to achieve total sanitation including water waste treatment and solid waste management.
Now, in a bid to rein in polluting industries along the river, the Centre is contemplating to install tamper-free monitoring systems, which is part of the series of measures to cleanse the Ganga from pollution.
"We are planning to install tamper-free systems to access pollution levels along the Ganges," a source privy to the development said.
