Love Ganga project

A handful of people in Kolkata have come together to  launch an initiative to prevent the River Ganga  from pollution  and eventual `death' . They are representatives of six NGOs who have recently set up the `Love Ganga Project' .

Their aim is to  work towards building awareness among the users to ensure,  fruitful implementation of the Clean Ganga Mission launched by the National Ganga River Basin Authority(NGRBA) with Prime Minister  Manmohan Singh at the helm. 

Preserve River Ganga

The NGBRA’s  role is  to ensure the planning, financing, monitoring and coordinating part of collective efforts of the central and state governments to preserve the river.

Nearly two decades ago the union government instituted the  Ganga Action Plan(GAP)  that has not delivered the goods as evident from the pollution levels. " One of  the main reasons for  the failure of GAP," argues Shyamal Ghosh, one of the organisers of the
project, " was the absence of any third party monitoring.  This resulted in the need for  creation of  the NGBRA which has decided to work along with local bodies, research institutes and NGOs. And Love Ganga Project is just a result of this, explains Ghosh"
The Love Ganga project will focus on the stretch of the river that runs through the City of Joy.       

The Ganga enters Bengal near Maldah in South Bengal and then bifurcates into the Padma and the Bhagirathi in Murshidabad district of the state.While the Padma flows into Bangladesh, the Bhagirathi flows down south, meandering through the entire strech of West Bengal before entering the Bay of Bengal at Gangasagar.

Involving local people

The Love Ganga project aims to set up a data bank of polluting agents and bio-diversity of the river along the entire 450 km stretch of Bengal.  Secondly, the initiative plans to mount a year-long exercise to increase awareness by involving the local people about how to plann the multiple usages of the river without polluting its waters.

According to Amalesh Choudhury, a former professor of marine science with the Calcutta University, the `ball' has already been set rolling. "

The important part is that next time when NGRBA lays down the project and third party roles are accordingly distributed, we intend to rope in a number of other NGOs and non-government research institutes to give a big push to the Clean Ganga drive."
  Going back to history, the River Ganga has had a major impact on Indian civilisation, culture and heritage. It is only in the fitness of things that some initiatives are made somewhere to  prevent the River from drying up; for, it will have a direct bearing on the ethos of the nation.