JOIN USThe Centre has told the Supreme Court that it is yet to accept a report submitted by the IIT-consortium recommending different measures including maintaining “wholeness of national river Ganga”.
In an affidavit, the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation submitted the finer points of the report stating that given the escalating impact of human activities on the river basin, eight important areas were identified for carrying out restorative actions in a mission mode.
Among the measures are maintaining ‘aviral dhara’ (continuous flow), ‘nirmal dhara’ (unpolluted dhara), ecological restoration, sustainable agriculture, geological safeguarding, basin protection against disasters, river hazard management and environmental knowledge-building and sensitisation.
The report also described strategy, information, methodology, analysis, suggestions and recommendations pertinent to Ganga River Basin Management Plan-2015.
The IIT-consortium has submitted its report on Ganga River Basin Management Plan-2015 on January 31, this year. It advocated for adopting holistic approach for invigorating and preserving the Ganga.
It also identified various aspects like industrialisation, urbanisation and over-drawl of resources relating to human activities affecting the aquatic environment. The Ministry said that the report was being examined and yet to be accepted.
Complying to the apex court order of January 14, the government said that 70 projects of sewage treatment plants projects were going in the Ganga river basin states. One at Varanasi ghat is under litigation, 30 are on-going, including 13 in Uttarakhand, 8 in Uttar Pradesh, 5 in Bihar and 4 in West Bengal.
And 14 projects were at bidding stage in five states while 25 projects – 2 in Uttarakhand and 23 in West Bengal, have been completed. Four additional projects are also at bidding stage.