The Union Cabinet has approved the flagship ‘Namami Gange’ program which integrates the efforts to clean and protect the Ganga River in a comprehensive manner.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi today.
The program has a budget outlay of Rs. 20,000 crore for the next five years which is a significant four-fold increase over the expenditure in the past 30 years. Marking a major shift in implementation, the government is focusing on involving people living on the banks of the river to attain sustainable results. Drawing from the lessons learnt from previous implementation, the program also focuses on involving the states and grassroots level institutions such as Urban Local Bodies and Panchayati Raj institutions in the implementation.
The program would be implemented by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), and its state counterpart organizations like the State Program Management Groups (SPMG).
The NMCG will also establish field offices wherever necessary. In order to improve implementation, a three-tier mechanism has been proposed for project monitoring comprising of a high level task force chaired by the Cabinet Secretary and assisted by NMCG at national level and state level committees. At the state level, the chief secretary will chair deliberations, while at the district level, the committee will be chaired by the district magistrate.
Taking a leaf from the unsatisfactory results of the earlier Ganga Action Plans, the Centre now plans to provide for operation and maintenance of the assets for a minimum ten-year period, and adopt a
PPP/SPV approach for pollution hotspots.
In an attempt to bolster enforcement the Centre also plans to establish a 4-battalion Ganga Eco-Task Force, a Territorial Army unit, apart from contemplating on a legislation that aims to check pollution
and protect the river.
The program emphasizes on improved coordination mechanisms between various ministries and agencies of Central and State governments. (ANI)