PM chairs meeting of National Ganga River Basin Authority

Chairing the fifth meeting of the National Ganga River Basin Authority in New Delhi, the Prime Minister said the task of cleaning the Ganga was a challenging one, but had the potential to generate immense economical activity, and bring about a positive attitudinal change in the entire country.

He said that it is "our responsibility for future generations" to save the River Ganga. He said the River Ganga was associated with "faith" and "devotion" among millions of Indians, and the task was to convert these positive sentiments, into a feeling of responsibility.

He said the task at hand could not be accomplished without "Jan-Bhaagidaari" (people`s participation).

The Prime Minister urged the states to pay special attention to development of towns and villages located on the banks of the River Ganga, and to ensure sufficient awareness in these areas to stop pollution.

The Chief Ministers of Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jharkhand, who were present in the meeting, also spoke in detail on the subject, and about issues related to their respective states.

The themes mentioned by them included silt management, and single-window clearances for proposals from the states.

Union Ministers Arun Jaitley,  Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Uma Bharati, Birender Singh, Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goyal, Sanwarlal Jat, and Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Shri Arvind Panagariya were also present at the meeting.

The meeting was coordinated by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharati introduced the issues at hand, and delivered the vote of thanks.