Cleansing River Ganga is one of the many ambitious projects of Modi government. It even allocated huge funds for it in the budget. But, Supreme Court responding to a petition rapped it for not disclosing its action plan on this mission. The apex court opines that if the government is not honest it may even take 200 years to complete this mission. It asks government of India to submit its plans for this mission.

Modi government today has submitted an affidavit in which it reveals its short term, medium term and long term plans for cleansing River Ganga that requires thousands of crores investments and 18 years’ time. According to its affidavit, short term mission will be accomplished in three years, medium term in five years and long term for next ten years periods.

Five states with their 118 towns situated on bank of the river need to co-operate with Centre for successful completion of these three missions. For this purpose, they have to achieve total sanitation and have to effectively maintain waste water treatment and solid waste managements. Then only the 2,500km long stretch of River Ganga can be rejuvenated completely, states in the affidavit. It also states that long term plan would emerge from the Ganga River Basin Management Plan being prepared by consortium of seven IITs for rejuvenating the river.