GANGA, THE MOTHER IN A CURSE

GANGA, THE MOTHER IN A CURSE

TheWorldWildlife Fund inMarch

listed the Ganges among the

world’s 10 most endangered

rivers. In India, the river provides

more than 500 million people with

water for drinking and farming.

More than 100 cities and

countless villages are situated

along the 1,568-mile river, which

stretches from the foothills of the

Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal,

and few of them have sewage

treatment plants. But recent

reports by scientists say the

Ganges is under greater threat

from water pollution & even

greater from global warming.

According to a U.N. climate

report, the Himalayan glaciers

that are the sources of the Ganges

could disappear by 2030 as

temperatures rise. The shrinking

glaciers also threaten Asia’s supply

of fresh water. The immediate

effect of glacier recession is a

short-lived surplus of water. But

eventually the supply runs out,

and experts predict that the

Ganges eventually will become a

seasonal river, largely dependent

on monsoon rains.

Arrangement at the Central

Level

The river cleaning program was

started with Ganga Action

Plan(GAP) in 1985 under the

aegis of GPD established under

the Ministry of Environment &

Forest. A CGA under the

chairmanship of the PM was

constituted to finalise the policy

framework and to oversee the

implementation of GAP. The

Chief Ministers of the concerned

States, Union Ministers and

Secretaries of the concerned

Central Ministries and Experts

were its members. The GAP was

later extended to GAP II in 1993

and was broad-based in the form

of NRCP in 1995. The GAP II

was merged with NRCP in

December 1996. Since then a

single scheme of NRCP is under

implementation as a Centrally

Sponsored Scheme. The CGA

was renamed as National River

Conservation Authority (NRCA)

with a larger mandate to cover all

the programmes supported by the

NRCD.

National Ganga River Basin

Authority

To face this challenge the Central

Government by a notification on

20th February,2009, has set up

the ‘National Ganga River Basin

Authority’ (NGRBA) as an

empowered planning, financing,

monitoring and coordinating

authority for the Ganga River, to

ensure effective abatement of

pollution and conservation of the

river Ganga by adopting a holistic

approach with the river basin as

the unit of planning .The Authority

will perform its function under the

Chairmanship of the Prime Minister. It has as its members,

the Union Ministers concerned,

the Chief Ministers of the States

through which Ganga flows viz.,

Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh,

Bihar, Jharkhand and West

Bengal, among others.

The Authority may co-opt one or

more ChiefMinisters from any of

the States havingmajor tributaries

of the river Ganga. The objective

of the NGRBA is to ensure

effective abatement of pollution

and conservation of the river

Ganga by adopting a river basin

approach for comprehensive

planning andmanagement; and to

maintainminimumecological flows

in the river Ganga with the aim of

ensuring water quality and

environmentally sustainable

development.

Key Functions of the

NGRBA

The NGRBA would be

responsible for addressing the

problem of pollution in Ganga in

a bolistic and comprehensive

manner. This will include water

quality, minimum ecological flows,

sustainable access and other issues

relevant to river ecology and

management. The NGRBA will

not only be regulatory body but

will also have developmental role

in terms of planning& monitoring

of the river conservation activities

and ensuring that necessary

resources are available. The

NGRBA would work for

maintaining the water quality of

the river Ganga upto the

acceptable standards. The

pollution abatement activities will

be taken up through the existing

implementationmechanisms in the

States and also through Special

Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) at the

pollution hotspots. The NGRBA

will ensure minimum ecological

flow in the Ganga by regulating

water abstraction and by

promoting water storage projects.

TheNGRBA will plan andmonitor

programmes for cleaning of Ganga

and its tributaries. To begin with

, it will concentrate on Gangamain

stem. The NGRBA would draw

upon professional expertise within

and outside the Government for

advice on techno-economic

issues. The technical and

administrative support to

NGRBA shall be provided by the

Ministry of Environment &

Forests.

Role of State Government

under NGRBA

The State government will be at

the forefront. Implementation will

be at the level of State

Government/ ULBs. The States

may take up steps for

comprehensive management of

the river in the State through their

respective State River

Conservation Authorities. The

State Government/ ULBs are

expected to generate resources

through taxes, levies, cess, user

charges, etc., for abatement of

pollution in the rivers and for

proper O&M of the assets

created. Funds thus raised may be

utilized for infrastructure

development including sewage

works. During the finalization of

the respective State Plans, the

States should make adequate

provisions in their budgets for

meeting O&M expenditure.

Compliance of the environmental

norms by industries discharging

wastewater directly into the river

is under the purview of the State

Pollution Control Boards. The

Boards will need to be

strengthened for better

enforcement and surveillance of

polluting industries located on the

banks of the rivers. The public

funds for the capital and recurring

costs may not be sufficient to

meet the demand. The States will

therefore have to introduce

policies which may attract private

sector investments, including from

the financial institutions.

Salient Features of the New

Approach

River Basin will be the unit of

planning andmanagement. This is

an internationally accepted

strategy for integrated

management of rivers.

Accordingly, a new institutional

mechanism in the form of National

Ganga River Basin Authority

(NGRBA) will spearhead river

conservation efforts at the

national level. Implementationwill

be by the State Agencies and

Urban Local Bodies. Theminimum

ecological flows for the entire

Gangawill be determined through

modeling exercises. NGRBA will

take appropriate measures in

cooperation with the States to

regulate water abstraction for

maintaining minimum ecological

flows in the river. Attention

would also be paid to the

restoration of living parts of the

river ecosystem for its holistic

treatment to enable conservation

of species like dolphin , turtles,

fishes and other native and

endangered species in the river.