Govt gives Clean Ganga mission more teeth

The government Wednesday strengthened and elevated the National Mission on Clean Ganga (NMCG) to the level of an ‘Authority’ with powers to enforce pollution laws and penalise defaulters, as part of a major institutional restructuring for cleaning and rejuvenating Ganga river and its tributaries.

The NMCG, currently registered as a society, works under the Water Resources Ministry as the implementing agency of policies framed by the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) that was created in 2010.

The Cabinet also decided to replace the NGRBA with a new National Council on River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management). Like the NGRBA, the Council will also be headed by the Prime Minister.