The status of “National River” for the Ganga, facilitated the constitution of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), an empowered planning, financing, monitoring and coordinating body on February 20, 2009 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for cleaning of the Ganga River. The Authority, chaired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, has as its members the Union Ministers concerned and the Chief Ministers of the States through which Ganga flows, viz., Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, among others. The objective of the NGRBA is to ensure pollution prevention and conservation of the Ganga River by adopting a holistic river basin approach keeping in view the sustainable development needs. A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was signed by the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), Govt. of India (GoI) on July 6, 2010, with a consortium of seven IITs for the development of Ganga River Basin Management Plan (GRBMP).

Project Results

The vision of GRBMP is the restoration of wholesomeness of rivers in the Ganga basin and aims to have adequate provision for water, soil and energy in the Ganga basin to accommodate the pressures of increased population, urbanization, industrialization and agriculture while ensuring the sanctity of the fundamental aspects of the river system. The “Panch Sutras” adopted are as follows: (i) Continuous flow (Aivarla Qaara), (ii) Un-polluted flow (inama-la Qaara), (iii) Longitudinal, lateral and vertical connectivity of the river system, (iv) Adequate space for various river functions, and (v) River as an ecological entity.