Ganga’s Cleansing Of Utmost Importance To Government: Jal Shakti Minister

New Delhi: Ganga’s cleansing is of utmost importance to the government as the sacred river has been the foundation of India’s economic activity, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shekhawat said on Monday. The National Clean Ganga Mission has managed to connect the common man with the river, the minister said at the Ganga Utsav being organised here to celebrate rivers. “We have succeeded in connecting Ganga with the common man and made it a Jan Andolan under the NMCG. There are crores of people who are fulfilling their responsibility in carrying out the process of cleaning Ganga,” he said.

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He added that Ganga has been the foundation of India’s economic activity and the livelihood of 40 per cent of the country’s population is dependent upon Ganga which also makes its cleansing of utmost importance for the government.

Mr Shekhawat said India is a diverse country and rivers like Ganga bind and unite people so our commitment towards them is necessary.

Earlier, the work to clean Ganga was being undertaken in silos and efforts were not made at the desired intensity, he said.

Jal Shakti Secretary Pankaj Kumar said that due to NMCG significant improvement on the ground can already be seen.

We have already started seeing significant improvements on the ground with the improvement of water quality whether it is in terms of dissolved oxygen or biological oxygen, or faecal coliform and this improvement can be being observed at many places, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity,  that is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.