PM approves Ganga river basin authority notification

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the notification for setting up the Ganga River Basin Authority for comprehensive management of the basin.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday approved the notification for setting up the Ganga River Basin Authority for comprehensive management of the basin.

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The framework for the proposed authority was finalised at a meeting chaired by TKA Nair, the principal secretary to the prime minister, with the chief secretaries of the Ganga Basin states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. West Bengal was represented by its principal secretary, department of environment.

"The five states unanimously endorsed the proposal, based on which the ministry of environment and forests will issue the notification under the Environment Protection Act," said a release from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

The setting up of the authority will help replace the current piecemeal efforts to clean up the Ganga with an integrated approach that sees the river as an ecological entity.

This will also help address issues of quantity in terms of water flows.

The authority chaired by the prime minister will consist of the chief ministers of the Ganga basin states as members along with related ministers of the central government.