Ganga mission to strengthen livelihood of bankside dwellers

NEW DELHI/DEHRADUN: As part of its mission to clean the Ganges, the Centre will spend Rs 30,000 crore in the next four years on conservation by strengthening the livelihood of the people living along the banks of the river.

Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti also said that the protection of the Ganga is economics and not only a religious issue.

Inaugurating the Detailed Project Report preparation of forestry intervention for Ganga at Dehradun, Bharti called upon the youth to join in the Mission and underlined the need to harmonise policies made at the higher level with the needs of the grass-roots level.

Some 50 crore people depend on Ganga for their livelihood. Half of those who depend on it would lose their "lifeline" if it were to go dry. It's therefore imperative to maintain uninterrupted flow of the river, she said.

"Ganga is not only a river with religious importance but many people depend on it for their livelihood. We want the (clean Ganga) campaign to be associated with employment and livelihood," she said.

The Water Resources Ministry will spend Rs 30,000 crore in the next four years as part of its Namami Gange Mission to strengthen the livelihood of the bankside dwellers, Bharti said.

On the pollution of the river by effluent-discharging industries, Environment and Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar said 630 such industries were identified.

"As much as 630 polluting industries were identified along Ganga of which 440 belonged to tanneries mainly near Kanpur. Most of such industries have prepared themselves to create pollution monitoring system at their installations," he said.