Ganga cleanliness my govt’s priority: CM

LUCKNOW: Hours after union water resources minister Uma Bharti blamed the Uttar Pradesh government’s urban development department, headed by senior minister Azam Khan, for delaying the NOC for the Vrindavan-Mathura leg of Ganga cleanliness campaign, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav hit back saying a clean Ganga was among the priorities of the Samajwadi Party government.

After the union minister left, the CM’s office released a press release in which the CM demanded early release of Rs 4000 crore by the centre. The centre, UP government claimed, owed the amount for various schemes, flood control measures. The state and centre jointly shared the expenses of these schemes, the state government spokesman claimed.

All this happened even as the union minister claimed that there should be no “politics” on the Ganga. The government release also quoted the CM as saying, “The Ganga cleanliness campaign cannot succeed unless its tributaries are also cleaned. That’s why the state government has undertaken cleanliness campaign of rivers like the Gomti in Lucknow, Varuna in Varanasi, Yamuna in Vrindavan, Saryu in Ayodhya.”

A government spokesman said that during his meeting with the union minister, the CM had emphasized on the fact that the state government would bear full expenses of the cleanliness and beautification of various Ganga tributaries and that the state would cooperate with the centre if it came up with any proposal in this regard.

Interestingly, after her meeting with the CM, the union minister had said the Ganga would flow clean by 2018 . She was then asked to clarify on BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi’s statement doubting the initiatives to clean the ancient river which is revered by the Hindus. “I had met Joshiji and explained him the Ganga cleanliness plan after which he blessed me,” she said.

Earlier, the union minister had blamed Azam Khan’s urban development ministry for not releasing the NOC for the nearly 15 km stretch at Vrindavan and Mathura.