10 IITs asked to adopt stretches of river Ganga and undertake cleaning plans

NEW DELHI: Months after a consortia of seven IITs submitted the Ganga River Basin Management Plan, the Centre has asked them to walk the talk. Ten IITs have been asked to pitch in by adopting various stretches of the river and effect ‘implementable action plans’ there for cleaning up the holy river. Each IIT will also handhold five villages along the river and help them treat pollutants before releasing them into the Ganga water, conduct research on cost-effective solutions for Ganga pollution, ensure real-time monitoring of pollution levels in the holy waters and draw up stretch specific project reports within next 30-45 days.

One of the major elements of the RSS’ cultural agenda, the cleaning of the Ganga has the full support and backing of the Modi government through the ambitious ‘ Namami Gange’ project piloted by the Ministry of Water Resources.
At a meeting of the water resources and HRD ministries, held on December 9, 2015, it was strongly felt that the intervention proposed by the IITs in their report must be translated into implementable action plans “with clear scope, mode of implementation and likely costs”.

It has now been agreed that various stretches of the Ganga basin will be allocated to the IITs, which will identify all possible projects to control pollution in the Ganga in the allocated stretches. Each IIT will also engage dedicated research scholars for the same and finalise a preliminary project report for the stretch concerned in the next 30-45 days.

It is learnt that the same has already been communicated to the IITs, which are expected to soon hold a meeting of the IIT Consortia.

It is also agreed that three more IITs — the ones at Patna, Bhubaneshwar and Hyderabad — should be roped in to join the consortia of seven IITs. The consortia of seven IITs — Bombay, Madras, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Guwahati and Roorkee — was set up in 2010 to prepare a blueprint to clean the Ganga river basin.

That apart, taking off from the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, each IIT will be required to identify a cluster of five villages along the allocated Ganga stretch where they will implement the preliminary project report and help turn them into ‘model villages for treating pollutants flowing into the river’. IIT Kharagpur has been asked to develop a GIS-based monitoring system to assess the levels of pollution at various points and give real-time updates on it. The HRD ministry’s Adult Education Bureau will alongside run a campaign in villages and town near the Ganga basin to generate awareness on the need to keep the river clean.

Each IIT will also take up research projects for cost-effective solutions for the various kinds of pollution plaguing the Ganga. Specific attention will be paid to the industrial pollution flowing into the Ram Ganga and Kali East tributaries to the Ganga.

That apart, the Schools of Planning & Architecture will be involved as well to devise ways to assist with urban planning of habitations along the Ganga basin and also to help preserve heritage structures in these areas.

At the December 9 meeting, water resources minister Uma Bharati had sought the assistance of IITs and other educational institutions and she had also suggested small stretches of rural areas be adopted by them for treatment of small drains.