Ganga Manthan

A national level consultation in the name of ‘Ganga Manthan’ was organized on July 07, 2014 at New Delhi to facilitate interaction with various stakeholders including policy makers and implementers, academicians, environmentalists, spiritual leaders and NGOs. The event was organized by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), a registered society under Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), implementing the river Ganga pollution abatement programme under National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA). It was aimed to provide a platform for various stakeholders to come together to discuss the issues and possible solutions to the challenging task of Ganga Rejuvenation. The views expressed by the stakeholders participating in ‘Ganga Manthan’ would be helpful for the preparation of a road map for the preparation of a comprehensive plan to rejuvenate the River Ganga. A Memorandum of Agreement for 10 years has been signed in 2010 by MoEF and a consortium of seven IITs for preparation of a comprehensive River Basin Management Plan for Ganga. Besides the IITs, National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee, Banaras Hindu University, various universities and research institutes are also involved in Ganga River Basin Management Plan (GRBMP). Interim report has been submitted, which is circulated to different ministries, departments and other stakeholders for comments. For rivers other than Ganga, National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD) in MoEF, which is entrusted with implementation of Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) jointly with the State Governments on a cost-sharing basis, has identified polluted stretches of 40 major rivers in 121 towns spread over 19 States in the country, in which pollution abatement activities are being implemented under NRCP. Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) have informed that pollution abatement of rivers, including building of toilets etc., is to be undertaken by the State Government/ local bodies concerned, as per their priorities. The role of the Central Government is promotional and to supplement the efforts of the State Govt. Central Pollution Control Board has inventorised 144 drains discharging wastewater into river Ganga directly. The total wastewater discharge from these drains is 6475 million litres per day (mld) and carrying total Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) load of 426 tonnes/ day.