Ganga more polluted under Modi: Congress

The Congress on Friday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "betraying the people of Varanasi" by failing to clean Ganga as promised, saying that pollution level in the river has increased after 2014.

"People of Varanasi, people of the Gangetic plains and Ma Ganga shall never forgive and forget how PM Shri Narendra Modi has betrayed them. Only few months are left and people of India shall give a befitting reply to the BJP," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said in a statement.

Citing the RTI reply and a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report for 2016-17, senior Congress leader also stated that the pollution levels in Ganga are higher than the levels recorded back in 2014 after Modi launched "Namami Gange" programme -- an initiative to clean the river.

"Particularly in PM Modi's constituency, Varanasi, lab tests have found that bacterial contamination is now higher than the levels recorded back in 2014," he further added.

Singhvi said that the government has been completely neglecting how sewage and carcasses are disposed of in the river.

"The slurries, gurgle dark black sewage into the Ganga, littered with plastics, carcasses and trash, the indescribable stink kicks up from this toxic cocktail that also hides germs passed through human and animal excrement in Varanasi sings the sordid saga of utter neglect by the Modi Government," he stated.

--IANS

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