"No government can be formed without Congress, which is a major and deeply-rooted party in the country. Congress is the main opposition party too. Others are regional parties," Raut said in Pune
Last November, the Ganga was declared as a 'National River' and the NGRBA was set up as an empowered planning, implementing and monitoring authority for the Ganga River for which this year's budget has a special provision of Rs 250 crore. The NGRBA has as its members the chief ministers of four states through which the Ganga flows.
After a comprehensive analysis is undertaken to find the reasons of this incident, "we will build an elaborate plan to avert any potential tragedy going forward", Rawat said.
Here's a recap of the events from the past 24 hours.
The capital cost of the entire project, including a 5.6-km-long bridge, other minor bridges, underpasses and a rail overbridge, was estimated at over Rs 2,900 crore. The decision to cancel the project came in the backdrop of the killing of 20 Indian soldiers in a clash with Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh's Galwan Valley on June 15.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, after receiving complaints about several bodies found floating in the Ganga river in the two states.
Voting for the seventh and final phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections covering 54 seats, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi, will be held on Monday to decide the phase of 613 candidates.
The bodies of 5 more persons were fished out of the Ganga river while a search was on to trace the 7 others who had gone missing after a boat capsized in the river near Shooltankeshwar area.
Towering effigies of 10-headed demon king Ravana, his son Meghnad and brother Kumbhakaran crackled in fiery splendour marking the triumph of good over evil as gusto and fervour marked Dussehra festivities across the country. Crowds burst into cheers as the stuffed effigies, dotting grounds and open spaces, went up in flames at sundown.
A 13.2 MW small hydro project on the Rishiganga river was swept away in the glacier burst in Uttarakhand on Sunday, but there is no danger of floods in the downstream areas as the water level has been contained.
"All the water related works will be merged under one ministry," Shekhawat said after taking the charge.
The sixth International Yoga Day is being observed across the world. "Yoga unites, spreads brotherhood," Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who played an instrumental role in popularising yoga in the world after coming to power in 2014, said in his message on Sunday. Since 2015, International Yoga Day, is a United Nations designated day. Yoga at Home and Yoga with Family, is the focus this year as experts advised people to stay home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A multi-agency operation to rescue an estimated 34 people trapped inside a big tunnel at Tapovan was carried out overnight after a glacier burst-triggered deluge killed 10 people in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district while over 140 are missing, officials said on Monday.
The latest among his donations was the initial corpus of Rs 2.25 lakh to the PM CARES Fund.
The newly-inaugurated Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi is being largely hailed as a symbol of resurrection of India's spiritual consciousness but a section of people here claims that the mega project is being showcased so that the ruling party gets a "political edge" in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
Uttarakhand Director-General of Police Ashok Kumar informed that 168 people are still missing following the glacier burst.
'Unlike in the Kedarnath floods of 2013, which happened due to heavy rains, no such thing happened in Chamoli.' 'The damage was done only because of the hot sun.'
Badminton rackets used by the Paralympic gold medallist, the javelin which brought India its first gold in the Olympics and gloves worn by the bronze medal winning athlete are among Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mementos which are drawing the highest bids currently on the culture ministry website which is e-auctioning them.
Seven pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh and three from Delhi were among the 12 people who died in a stampede at Vaishno Devi shrine atop Trikuta hills in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir in the early hours of Saturday, officials said.
At least 35 bodies, which were ostensibly disposed of in the river Ganga as part of last rites by their kin, surfaced after the water receded near Pariyar ghat in neighbouring Unnao district, prompting administration to order an inquiry into it.
The decision was taken as keeping it operational could have been risky, the official said.
Effects of the pandemic were all too stark as the rituals were performed with face masks on.
Sensing anger and unhappiness over the pathetic condition of the 'ghats' (banks) along sacred Ganga river ahead of Chhath Puja -- the most popular Hindu festival in Bihar, the state government has began a cleanliness drive and beautification of all ghats in Patna and outside.
The main architectural lesson demonstrated by this project is how sacred spaces that have immense spiritual and heritage value, located in dense urban settings, can be transformed in a respectful and sensitive manner.
This is also the base of the ITBP's Battalion No. 1, tasked with guarding the Line of Actual Control with China that runs along the state.
Bihar Home Secretary Amir Subhani on Tuesday began an inquiry into the stampede that caused the death of at least 18 people, mostly children and women, during the Chhath festival at the Adalatganj Ghat on the Ganga River in Patna on late Monday evening, officials said.
People lost their lives in the affected districts due to incidents of drowning, electrocution, house collapse and falling of trees, a disaster management department release said.
He also received the country's first container cargo transported on inland waterways from Kolkata.
The boat capsized in the Ganga River at Scindia Ghat in Varanasi, police said.
Magsaysay award-winner ' Rajendra Singh and two others on Saturday quit the National Ganga River Basin Authority, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, protesting the government's "negligence" of the river. Besides Singh, two other NGRBA members -- Ravi Chopra and R H Siddiqi -- also submitted their resignation letters to Dr Singh, expressing solidarity with noted environmentalist G D Agrawal, who is on a fast-unto-death to press for the cleansing of Ganga.
At least 18 people including 8 children and 10 women, mostly devotees, died and several injured in a stampede during Chhath festival in Patna on Monday evening, the police said.
The BJP is raising funds by selling NaMo Again T-shirts, mugs and wristbands through the Modi smartphone app.
"We had declared four labourers of Assi Ganga Hydel project along with 19 workers as dead after the calamity. And now, four persons have been reported alive," said R Rajesh Kumar, district magistrate of Uttarkashi.
At least 22 pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh were killed on Tuesday and 8 others injured when a bus in which they were travelling fell into Ganga river at Kodiyala in Tehri district of Uttarakhand, police said.
The Environment Ministry was hit by controversies in the year gone by which saw clearances for two big ticket projects -- POSCO and Lavasa -- and exit of Jairam Ramesh as the green minister.
Environment scientist-activist G D Agrawal on Friday broke his fast after the government promised to convene a meeting of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-led National Ganga River Basin Authority in March. Agrawal, who was on a fast-unto-death since March 8 to press for the cleaning of Ganga, decided to take water and liquid food after he was informed about the government's decision to convene the meeting of NGRBA on April 17 by Union minister Sriprakash Jaiswal.
Hundreds of villages have been inundated and thousands of people stranded in Bihar after heavy rains lashed the state on Sunday. Water levels in Sone and Ganga rivers rose to alarming proportions, following the sudden release of 9.58 lakh cusecs of water from Bansagar dam in Madhya Pradesh, Rihand dam in Uttar Pradesh and Muhammadganj dam in Jharkhand.
The inauguration of the state-of-the-art infrastructure surrounding the historic Kashi Vishwanath Temple near the iconic Dashashwamedh Ghat comes ahead of the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh early next year.