NEWS

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.