National Mission for Clean Ganga
The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India’s age-long culture and civilization, ever-changing, ever-flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga
About National Mission for Clean Ganga Vision
National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is the implementation wing of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA). It is a registered society
The Vision for Ganga Rejuvenation constitutes restoring the wholesomeness of the river defined in terms of ensuring “Aviral Dhara” (Continuous Flow”), “Nirmal Dhara”(“Unpolluted Flow”), Geologic and ecological integrity.
originally formed by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change(MoEFCC) on 12th August 2011 under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. As per the 306th amendment in the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, both NGRBA and NMCG are allocated to the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation(MoWR, RD &GR). Accordingly, the General Body of NMCG is being reconstituted. The Secretary to the Government of India, MoWR, RD & GR is the current chairman of the Governing Council of NMCG. As per the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), the mandate of NGRBA is being implemented by, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG). At the national level NMCG is the coordinating body and is being supported by States Level Program Management Groups (SMGs) of UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar and West Bengal which, are also registered as societies under Societies Registration Act, 1860 and a dedicated Nodal Cell in Jharkhand.
About Namami Gange Programme
Union Budget 2014-15 has taken cognizance of the substantial amount of money spent in the conservation and improvement of the Ganga, which has a very special place in a collective consciousness of this country. However, the efforts are not yielded desired results because of the lack of concerted efforts by all the stakeholders.
Namami Gange Accordingly, an Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission called “Namami Gange” has been proposed to be set up and a sum of Rs. 2,037 crores has been set aside for this purpose. In addition a sum of Rs. 100 crores has been allocated for developments of Ghats and beautification of River Fronts at Kedarnath, Haridwar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Patna and Delhi in the current financial year.
Accordingly, Namami Gange approaches Ganga Rejuvenation by consolidating the existing ongoing efforts and planning for a concrete action plan for future. The interventions at Ghats and River fronts will facilitate better citizen connect and set the tone for river centric urban planning process.
Recognizing the multi-sectoral, multi-dimensional and multi-stakeholder nature of the Ganga Rejuvenation challenge, the key Ministries comprising of (a) WR, RD&GR, (b) Environment, Forests & Climate Change, (c) Shipping, (d) Tourism, (e) Urban Development, (f) Drinking Water and Sanitation and Rural Development have been working together since June, 2014 to arrive at an action plan. The concerned Ministers have nominated a Group of Secretaries to develop a draft action plan and have held periodical meetings to review the progress and provide guidance. The Group of Secretaries submitted its initial report on 21st July, 2014 and after taking into account the feedback received from the Hon’ble Ministers, the final report has been submitted on 28th August, 2014.
While the report is being examined in the Ministry, NMCG has been working in parallel on a draft strategy taking into account all these developments.
As already identified in the report of the GoS, the long-term vision will emanate from the Ganga River Basin Management Plan being prepared by the Consortium of 7 IITs, first version of which is likely to be available by the end of this year.
On a medium term basis, certain interventions both infrastructure and non-infrastructure need to be introduced to set the tone for implementation of long term vision as also take up so called “no regret” activities in the interim. Following are proposed to be taken up under Namami Gange: