'Zero liquid discharge' to accomplish National Mission for Clean Ganga: Uma Bharti

Speaking on the mission of National Mission for Clean Ganga, Union Minister Uma Bharti on Tuesday asserted that Uttar Pradesh Government and the Centre decided to work on zero liquid discharge to remove the salt wastes of the leather industry dumped in the river.

"Uttar Pradesh Government on joint effort with the Centre has decided to work on zero liquid discharge to remove the salt based wastes discharged by the leather industries of Kanpur," Bharti told media.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday met Bharti and assured her of all support and cooperation from the state government in cleaning up the Ganga.

Uma Bharti said that in absence of support and cooperation in the past regimes in Uttar Pradesh, the 'Namami Gange' project was not achieving the desired results, but now that the present government is headed by Adityanath, she was sure that the Ganga cleaning would be a success.

The Chief Minister has directed officials to ensure completion of these projects within the fixed timelines by strengthening the infrastructure and arranging for necessary facilities. He also said that the District Magistrates concerned should also be involved so that there are no hurdles in the works.

Union Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Conservation Secretary Amarjeet Singh said that because of the leather industrial units in Kanpur, Unnao and Banthra, there was a lot of pollution and added that they should be treated as a cluster and pollution controlled at these places.

At this, the Chief Minister said that a decision has already been taken by the state government to shift out leather industry units out of Kanpur and Kannauj in a phased manner, which will contribute in a big way towards the success of the mission.