Ganga cleaning: After criticism from Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti says will consult him

Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti on Friday said she would seek Murli Manohar Joshi's views to remove shortcomings in the 'Namami Gange' programme after he questioned the project and asserted that it would be completed within two years.

"He (Joshi) is our senior leader. I will meet him and seek his guidance to remove shortcomings (in the project) if there is any," said Bharti, who launched Jal Kranti Abhiyan on the World Environment Day at Birla auditorium here.Joshi at a press conference in Varanasi expressed reservations on the project, saying that cleaning the Ganga would be a far-fetched dream till there was uninterrupted water flow in the river.

"Cleaning Ganga would be a far fetched dream till there was an uninterrupted flow of water in the river. The river cannot be cleaned even in next 50 years, they way river was being cleaned by dividing it into small parts, converting it into small ponds," Joshi said. Bharti also said the first phase of Namami Gange project will be completed in two years.

The minister said she was focused and has a vision of creating water balance in the country. In an apparent attack on the previous governments for failing to clean the river, she said, "Rs 5,000 crore were spent over the last 29 years for cleaning the Ganga but there were no results."