Cleaning of Ganga is difficult without awareness: Jairam
Despite government taking several measures to keep river Ganga clean and pollution free, Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh today said the task of cleaning is unlikely to happen in next five years unless there is awareness on part of common man.
"We can't assure that river Ganga will be cleaned in five years. The government has spent over Rs 900 crore in the last 20 years for keeping the river clean but today only 1/3rd of the sewage that is generated across the 2,500 km stretch of Ganga is treated. The remaining 2/3rd part is led into the river without being treated," Ramesh told reporters here.
"The big task is to ensure that we set up adequate sewage treatment capacity across 3,00,000 towns and cities," Ramesh said at a function held at IIT-Powai today. The minister admitted that Ganga and Yamuna are no cleaner today, adding, "It is observed that 25-30 per cent if river is polluted due to industrialisation. We are sure that new technologies will play important role in keeping the rivers clean."
"The emphasis should be on projects like development of sewage treatment plants for all the major water bodies like Ganga and Yamuna across the country. This signifies the importance that we are placing on the river Ganga, which has such an important place in our culture," Ramesh said.
The Centre plans to save all the river bodies by making it 'nirmal' (clean) and 'aviral' (free flowing), Ramesh said. "We will not only ensure 'aviral dhara' (continuous flow of the river stream) as being demanded by several NGOs but also ensure 'nirmal dhara' (clean and pollution free flow)," the minister said.
Conservation of rivers is an ongoing and collective effort of the Central and State Governments. As all big rivers in the country including Ganga and Yamuna are polluted the responsibility of cleaning is not only in the hands of Government but even common man, Ramesh said.
