ABOUT THE RIVER GANGA

Ganga is symbol of purity and virtue for countless people of India. Ganga is a representative
of all other rivers in India.
Ganga is a perennial river which originates as a stream called Bhagirathi from
Gaumukh in the Gangotri glacier at 30 55' N, 79 7' E, some 4100 m above mean sea
level. Ganga river basin is the largest among river basins in India and the fourth largest
in the world, with a basin (catchment area) covering 8, 61,404 sq km. It has a total length
of 2,525 km, out of which 1,425 km is in Uttaranchal and UP, 475 km is in Bihar and 625
km is in West Bengal. Already half a billion people live within the river basin, at an
average density of over 500 per sq km, and this population is projected to increase to
over one billion people by the year 2030.
Map showing GANGA:

GAP(Ganga Action Plan)

1.An action plan, popularly known as Ganga Action Plan (GAP) for immediate
reduction of pollution load on the river Ganga was prepared by Department of
Environment (now Ministry of Environment & Forests) in December 1984 on the basis of
a survey on Ganga basin carried out by the Central Pollution Control Board in 1984.
2.To oversee the implementation of the GAP and lay down policies and programmes,
Government of India constituted the Central Ganga Authority (CGA) under the
chairmanship of the Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in February 1985.
3.It has been renamed as the National River Conservation Authority (NRCA) in
September 1995,. The Cabinet approved GAP in April 1985 as a 100 per cent centrally
sponsored scheme.
4.The GAP was thus launched in June 1985 with the establishment of the Ganga
Project Directorate (GPD), renamed as the NRCD (National River Conservation
Directorate) in June 1994, as a wing of the Department of Environment, to execute the
projects under the guidance and supervision of the CGA. The state agencies like Public
Health Engineering Department, Water and Sewage Boards, Pollution Control Boards,
Development Authorities, Local Bodies etc. were responsible for actual implementation
of the scheme.
5.More than two decades after Rajiv Gandhi conceptualised the Ganga Action Plan
(GAP), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 3, 2008 decided to declare
Ganga a National River to achieve the objectives of the clean-up operation.
6.It was also decided to set up a Ganga River Basin Authority, which will be entrusted
with the responsibility of planning, implementing and monitoring projects regarding the
river.
7.The authority, headed by the Prime Minister, would comprise of chief ministers of
states through which the Ganga flows.
8.Unlike the original Ganga Action Plan, which primarily focused on municipal sewage
treatment, November 2008 decisions were aimed at broad-basing the river management
efforts, integrating pollution...

GANGA TODAY

The Ganga today is more polluted than when the Ganga Action Plan was first initiated
by the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1986. The fast shrinking glaciers, dams,
barrages, canals and alarmingly high volume of pollution pose an ever increasing threat
to the health and life of the river. The state of Uttar Pradesh alone is responsible for over
50% of the pollutants entering the river along its entire journey to the sea.

The defilement of the river Ganga begins at Rishikesh when the river enters the plains.
The Ganga river water is brown or black in colour from Narora to Varanasi during the
lean months. At Kanpur the water stinks even during the monsoon when the river is
flooded. Since the launching of GAP, things have gone downhill in a big way in Kanpur.
The amount of filth along and in the river still continues unabated. Polybags are tossed
in publicly and casually; piles of refuse tumble down slopes to the river edge. The river is
still the private garbage dump of industries and individuals alike. During the lean period,
the river is so shallow that one can walk through the black muddy waters of the river.
The river is littered with human corpses and animal carcasses throughout its course and
the sight is truly offensive, repulsive, irritating, and disgusting and the oily blue-black
stench of tannery waste is unbearable. These are utmost insults to the holiness of the
river and any idea of purity.

Today there are more than 50 drains carrying raw sewage to the river Ganga and
Yamuna at Allahabad while there were only 13 drains before GAP was launched in
1986. Every Magh mela, Ardha-kumbha, and Kumbha, sadhus and saints protest in
large numbers against the river pollution and boycott the ritual bathings.
Nowhere in Varanasi the Ganga is worth taking a holy dip. The coliform and faecal
coliform count is exceedingly high in the river water. The 84 bathing ghats are
sandwiched between two tributaries, Assi and Varuna, which are now huge sewage
drains.

As the Ganga continues to wind its way down towards Kolkata she experiences dozens
of similar assaults that leave her waters fetid and filled with toxins and diseases. The
situation is the same throughout the length of the river.