The Supreme Court has stated that it would like to play a bigger role as far as the cleaning process of river Ganga is concerned. It has expressed its unhappiness with the affidavit submitted by the Government on cleaning the river up. It has also asked the Government to provide a roadmap for the same in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. The apex judicial body of the country has also asked the Government to provide milestones that would help it properly evaluate how well the Government is doing in this regard.
Pachauri for role to common people in cleaning Ganga
In what may be termed a praiseworthy suggestion, the chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the UN, Rajendra Pachauri, has stated that the common people should be given a greater role in the process of cleaning Ganga. The river that covers 2,500 km has been polluted for years by untreated sewage as well as industrial effluents. Uma Bharti, the Union Minister for Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation, has set a deadline of three years in which the river will be cleaned. Pachauri’s suggestion is a novel one considering the fact that the common people have never been involved in the process before.
Uma Bharti asks forest institutes to chip in
Uma Bharti has asked the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education and the Forest Research Institute to gather together their huge resources and knowledge for restoring the natural ecology of the Himalayas and also revitalize the Ganga. While talking to the officers of ICFRE and FRI, the Union Minister for Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation has stated that if both the organizations came together there is no doubt that the entire project of cleaning Ganga shall be successful.
Govt accused of diverting energy sector funds
An important member of the IPCC panel that won the Nobel Peace Prize, Joyashree Roy, has criticized the Indian Government for trying to use the funds that have been earmarked for the energy sector for cleaning up the Ganga. She has termed the proposal to be a ridiculous and illegal. Green activists and environmental experts such as Nandita Mongia (hailing from National Institute of Public Finance and Policy) and Rita Pandey have expressed their reservations regarding the said proposal.
Haridwar Ardh Kumbh as deadline
The Ardh Kumbh is supposed to happen in Haridwar in 2016. However, going by the Government’s plans the Ganga is supposed to get cleaned by that time. Even Uma Bharti has provided such an assurance to the State Government in Uttarakhand when she visited the State recently. She has, however, admitted that it would be a well nigh impossible task for the Central Government as well as its State counterpart. One of the major sources of pollution of Ganga is the untreated sewage dumped into the river and the State is a contributor in this regard as well. This is an area where the State Government needs to lay focus on.
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