Toeing a line different from his party-led government on ambitious ‘Namami Gange’ programme, senior BJP leader Murali Manohar Joshi on Friday said that the Ganga can’t be cleaned even in next 50 years the way the project to clean the river was being carried out.
Expressing his reservations on clean Ganga project, Dr. Joshi said cleaning the Ganga would be a far-fetched dream till there was uninterrupted water flow in the river.
“Cleaning the Ganga would be a far fetched dream till there was an uninterrupted flow of water in the river. The river cannot be cleaned even in next 50 years, they way river was being cleaned by dividing it into small parts, converting it into small ponds,” Dr. Joshi said, adding that the Ganga was our lifeline, and any threat to the Ganga was a threat to our culture and tradition.
ADVERTISEMENT
The senior BJP leader advocated for an uninterrupted flow of water in the Ganga and questioned Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s Inland waterways project of running cruises and large ships in the Ganga for transportation of heavy goods.
“How will you run large ships when big boats are unable to move on the river (Ganga mein Jahaz chalana to door, badi nav bhi nahi chal payengi, is yojana ko lagu karne se pahle Ganga ki maujuda isthti ki jaanch karale).”
Uma Bharti’s reaction
Meanwhile in Jaipur, Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti on Friday said she would seek Murli Manohar Joshi’s views to remove shortcomings in the ‘Namami Gange’ programme after he questioned the project and said that it would not be be completed within two years. - PTI