Policy Document On The Conservation Of River Ganga.:
National Mission for Clean Ganga has released a policy document on the conservation of river Ganga.
Highlights of the policy:
- Cities situated on Ganga river banks will have to incorporate river conservation plans when they prepare their Master Plans.
- These “river-sensitive” plans must be practical and consider questions of encroachment and land ownership.
- There is a need for a systematic rehabilitation plan for such encroaching entities that emphasizes alternative livelihood options in addition to a relocation strategy.
- The Master Plan shouldn’t mandate specific technologies, but it can “create an environment” for facilitating the use of state-of-the-art technologies (without naming the providers) for river management.
- The recommendations are currently for towns that are on the main stem of the river Ganga. There are 97 of them encompassing 5 States — Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal.
About the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG):
- It was registered as a society on 12th August 2011 under the Societies Registration Act 1860.
- It acted as the implementation arm of National Ganga River Basin Authority(NGRBA) which was constituted under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA),1986.
- Please note, NGRBA was dissolved with effect from the 7th October 2016, consequent to the constitution of the National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection and Management of River Ganga (referred as National Ganga Council).
