Modi reviews 'Namami Gange' programme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reviewed the 'Namami Gange' programme, one of the flag ship projects of his government, said an official statement on Friday.

According to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, during the meeting "senior officials from various government departments apprised the Prime Minister of action taken so far, and progress made on this programme".

The Modi government launched the programme in 2015 with a five-year budget of Rs 20,000 crore for cleaning the river.

"The sewage treatment capacity in towns along the river is being enhanced substantially. Considerable focus is being placed on large cities along the Ganga mainstream, including Haridwar, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Bhagalpur, Howrah and Kolkata," the statement said.

"Intensive monitoring and inspection of Grossly Polluting Industries has been taken up," it added.

Officials informed Modi that "this has led to considerable improvement in the water quality of some of the tributaries of the River Ganga".

They also discussed the progress in rural sanitation in villages along the Ganga. Modi asked officials to increase public awareness and people's participation in the programme.

The meeting was attended by officials from NITI Aayog, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, National Mission for Clean Ganga and Central Pollution Control Board.

'Namami Gange' is fully funded by the Central government.

--IANS

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