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IITs to help clean Ganga
The country’s premier technology institutes, the IITs, have been
roped in to help develop a plan for cleaning the Ganga. To implement the
scheme, the Union environment ministry has signed an agreement with a
consortium of seven IITs to prepare a comprehensive basin management
plan for rejuvenation of the river. 
Seven IITs have come together for the responsibility of development
of a management plan of the Ganga river basin called the National Ganga
River Basin Management Plan Project (NGBRM). Speaking on the occasion,
Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal stated that it was a project that serves
global interest, besides having inter-sectoral impact. “This will be
actually a road map on how to deal with basin of other rivers as well,”
he said. Mr Sibal stated that the HRD ministry was also considering to
establish one of the proposed 14 innovation universities to be devoted
to the study and research in environmental studies.
Environment minister Jairam Ramesh stated that the next generation of
water resources experts should be developed through this project. “That
is why I preferred going to the IIT consortium rather than to a
consulting company, which was the original plan,” Mr Ramesh said after
the ceremony.
It is expected to outline comprehensive measures for restoration of the
Ganga to address the issue of water use in the river basin and will be
completed within 12-18 months.
The funding for this project is estimated to be about Rs 15 crores.
The IITs will form several thematic groups and each group will develop a
detailed outline for the improvement of ecological health of the basin
system. Besides the thematic groups, the IITs will also integrate in a
holistic manner, all the issues into a comprehensive management plan. In
order to develop this plan, discussions will be held with local, state
and other agencies who have to deal with the maintenance of the basin
system.
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