Three expert members -- Rajendra Singh, Ravi Chopra and Rashid Siddiqui -- have resigned from the National Ganga River Basin Authority.
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.
Directions have been issued to about 48 industrial units polluting River Ganga to close down, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Monday.
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.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh today accused the National Democratic Alliance government of turning the programme to clean Ganga as a "Hindutva project" by attempting to polarise politics through the initiative on the holy river.
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.
The green panel ordered a survey to seek views of the common people about what they feel on ground about the pollution in the Ganga.
'Though the river is cleaner than what it was five years ago, a lot more needs to be done.'
It has been said that by 2025, India could become among the top five economies in the world. If India does become a $5 trillion economy but gets all its rivers polluted, food chain poisoned and genetic pool depleted and biometric database of Indians sold or stolen at the behest of commercial czars, will it not be a pyrrhic economic victory, asks Gopal Krishna.
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