Clean Ganga River: PM Modi stresses on 'increased' public participation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the progress of the Namaami Gange programme last evening, where he stressed on the need to further increase public awareness and participation in the task of cleaning the River Ganga

During the course of a presentation on the subject, senior officials from various Government departments apprised the Prime Minister of action taken so far, and progress made on this programme.

Officials said that the Sewage Treatment Capacity in towns along the river is being enhanced substantially. Considerable focus is being placed on large cities along the Ganga main stem, including Haridwar, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Bhagalpur, Howrah and Kolkata.

Intensive monitoring and inspection of Grossly Polluting Industries has been taken up. Officials said that this has led to considerable improvement in the water quality of some of the tributaries of the River Ganga. Parameters such as "Dissolved Oxygen" and "Biochemical Oxygen Demand" have been studied as part of this assessment.

The Prime Minister was also apprised of the considerable progress made in Rural Sanitation in villages along the banks of the River Ganga.

The Prime Minister stressed on the need to further increase public awareness and participation in the task of cleaning the River Ganga.

Top officials from the PMO, NITI Aayog, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, National Mission for Clean Ganga and Central Pollution Control Board were present at the meeting.