To give a much-needed push to the programme for cleaning of River Ganges, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has convened a meeting on Thursday of five Chief Ministers who head crucial states on the banks of the river. Of the five, four are from opposition parties.
While Chief Ministers of Bihar (Nitish Kumar), Uttar Pradesh (Akhilesh Yadav), Uttrakhand (Harish Rawat) and Jharkhand (Raghuvar Das) have confirmed their participation, there is still a question mark over West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's participation.
Although it is the sixth meeting of the Ganga Basin Authority, Mr. Modi will chair it for the first time. Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti is the vice-chairperson of the apex body and has held several meetings on the subject.
The Prime Minister will urge Chief Ministers to come up with concrete plans and strategy for improving the water quality of the river.
The states are supposed to identify the sources of river pollution and rejuvenate their local municipal bodies and jal boards to enable them to implement plans of action.
The Centre has made a budgetary allocated about Rs. 4000 crore for the Ganga clean-up project.
