Ganga rejuvination top priority, committed to cleanse it: Centre tells SC

New Delhi: Narendra Modi government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it is committed to clean Ganga, which was its pre-poll promise, and steps would be taken to prevent any pollution going into the holy river.

In an affidavit filed in the apex court, the Centre said a consortium of IIT professionals have been entrusted with the task of finalizing holistic Ganga River Basin Management and it will submit their report by the end of December this year.

The Centre said it has accorded a status of national priority to the rejuvenation of Ganga and ecological flow of the river will be maintained.

It also stated that restoring ecological sanctity of the river will be the prime focus and one of the major steps is creating awareness about the conservation of river and ensuring peoples' participation in the process.

The affidavit also stated that the Government has been actively considering the appropriate modification and restructuring of NGRBA to make it more effective.

Reminding Modi government that cleaning of Ganga was on its poll manifesto, the Supreme Court had asked why urgent steps are not being taken on it and set a two-week timeline for it to come up with a road map for making the 2500 km long river pollution free.

A bench headed by Justice T S Thakur had said the issue of cleaning Ganga is very important and it has to be put on the front burner.

The bench had adjourned the matter asking the Centre to file affidavit within two weeks giving details about what it proposes to do for cleaning the river.

The government had earlier informed that the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), the nodal agency involved in the clean Ganga mission, has been transferred from MoEF to the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.