Government decided to declare Ganga as a 'national river' and also set up a high powered Ganga River Basin Authority to protect the ancient river from pollution and other degradation.
NEW DELHI: Government on Tuesday decided to declare Ganga as a 'national river' and also set up a high powered Ganga River Basin Authority to protect the ancient river from pollution and other degradation.
The proposed Authority would be headed by the Prime Minister and would have as its members Chief Ministers of states through which the river flows.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which reviewed the Ganga Action Plan.
At the meeting, attended by Ministers of Water Resources, Environment and Forests and Urban Development, the Prime Minister said there was a need to set up a model for cleaning of rivers through the new institutional mechanism.
"It was decided that there is a need to replace the current piecemeal efforts taken up in a fragmented manner in select cities with an integrated approach that sees the river as an ecological entity and addresses issues of quantity in terms of water flows along with issues of quality," a PMO release said.
The details of the Authority to be vested with appropriate powers would be worked out in consultation with state governments and Central ministries.
The proposed Authority would promote inter-sectoral coordination for comprehensive planning for the project.
Various agencies working on different aspects of river conservation and pollution management would be brought together under this proposed Authority, the release said.
While the unit of planning should be the river basin, the action related to pollution abatement, sustainable use of water and flood management should be integrated, the meeting felt.
The Prime Minister also directed that detailed final proposals may be prepared within two months after necessary consultations.
It was also recognised that the spirit of the Ganga Action Plan as conceived in 1985 by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to make the cleaning of Ganga River a people's movement should be restored, it added.
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