The Central government will be setting up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for its ambitious programme Namami Gange or Clean Ganga initiative.
According to official sources in the Ministry of Water Resources, after deliberations with various stakeholders, it was found that an SPV on the lines of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) would be best suited for the project.
“A dedicated SPV with a bureaucrat of the calibre of E. Sreedharan who headed DMRC is the way forward. The Chief Secretaries of all States through which the Ganga passes will be made members of the board of this SPV, as would select municipal commissioners of big cities on the Ganga route,” said a top official in the Ministry.
As of now, the Clean Ganga project involves the Ministries of Water Resources, Urban Development, Environment and Forests, Roads and Highways and Rural Development and Sanitation. “It is hoped that an SPV will help coalesce all these different strands into one coherent plan,” said the source.
Hydel power projects on the river, especially in Uttarakhand, and the effect it has on the flow of the river and how to balance this with requirements of power in various States will also be studied. “Datarest, a Dutch company, will be looking at issues related to distribution and flow in the Ganga and any decision on hydel projects will be taken after that,” said the source.
Hydel projects have been looked at as a cause of environmental degradation in the sensitive Himalayan ecosystem. These are said to have seriously affected the flow in the river, affecting downstream areas.
A major conference called Jal Manthan will be called in February to discuss all these issues, and to carve out a special plan for the Ganga, within a larger water policy for other rivers.
