Mamata Banerjee has stated that West Bengal is now a leading name when it comes to the various projects being executed as part of the Clean Ganga campaign. The Chief Minister of West Bengal has stated emphatically that her state has performed far better than all the four other states through which Ganga flows – Uttarakhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. In a post on Facebook on this issue, she has also mentioned that the aforementioned information is there in a report brought out by the Union Ministry of Water Resources. She has further said that as per data, Bengal has received 30 projects, the highest among all states and already completed 24 of them.
West Bengal Leads in Clean Ganga Execution, Says Chief Minister
The projects, mentioned above, are presently being carried out across 24 towns in West Bengal. The aggregate expenses of these projects have been estimated at INR 1,352 crore. Recently, a meeting was organised in Delhi by officers of the Ministry of Water Resources, India, to have a look at how the various states – through which the Ganga flows – are operating in terms of executing the different projects that have been assigned to them. In the same meeting it was seen that West Bengal has indeed performed much better than other states.
No Compromise in Cleaning Ganga, Says Modi
The Indian Prime Minister has stated that the work to clean Ganga should be done in an uncompromising manner, much like one that is adopted in case of critical missions. He chaired the National Ganga River Basin’s meeting in Delhi on 26 March. It was there that he said that the task may appear to be an onerous one but it is also capable of giving rise to significant economic activity. He also feels that the said project could actually change the attitude of people in India for the better.
Prominent union ministers such as Arun Jaitley, Uma Bharti, Venkaiah Naidu, Birender Singh, Nitin Gadkari, and Prakash Javadekar also took part in the meeting. Chief ministers from different states and Arvind Panagariya, the vice chairman of NITI Aayog, were in attendance as well. Modi stated that the river is associated with the devotion and faith of millions of people in the country. This is the reason it was the responsibility of the present administration to safeguard it for the betterment of generations to come. He also stressed that all the positive sentiments surrounding the river needed to be changed to a feeling of duty.
The Prime Minister also exhorted the common people to come ahead and participate in the project, as he believes that it is only through such a way that the project will be successful in the end. Modi has also requested the states to properly develop the towns and villages located on the banks of Ganga. He has also stressed on the need to generate awareness regarding pollution and ways to mitigate it. During the meeting the chief ministers of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand made presentations that dealt with specific issues in their states. The issues discussed included management of silt as well as single windows where various proposals from the states regarding the project could be cleared.
