Make the action plan work now
To clean the Ganga, Gadkari must start with the tributaries
In a bid to give a concerted push to the Centre’s clean Ganga action plan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday gave minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari additional charge of the ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation. While it is too early to debate on whether Mr Gadkari will manage to turn around this critical project, if critics are to be believed, we now have minister who is a good administrator but with limited understanding of river ecology replacing a colleague (Uma Bharti) who had some understanding of river systems but was not a top-of-the line administrator.
Mr Gadkari has his work cut out because the ministry still does not have a clear-cut plan. According to the Namami Gange Mission, rejuvenation implies restoring the “wholesomeness” of the river and that includes three things: Aviral dhara (continuous flow), nirmal dhara (unpolluted flow) and ecological and geological integrity. Yet the ministry is overly focused on nirmal dhara but not aviral dhara, forgetting that nirmal dhara is only a subset of aviral dhara, not the other way round. To ensure that there is aviral dhara, the focus cannot be only on the main river. The ministry has to work on the smaller rivers since these feed the main river. What needs to be seen also is how Mr Gadkari balances his new job with his existing interest in water highways. To ensure water round the year for the monsoon-fed rivers of India for water highways, barrages have to be built. This will go against the plan of aviral dhara.
The other critical issue is of pollution: The business-as-usual strategy won’t work. The main problem with sewage treatment plants was not only that they could not cope with increasing pressure, but also bad maintenance. The Centre built them but the states and municipalities did not have the wherewithal to maintain them and the contractors made a killing. With two ministries on his plate, Mr Gadkari’s hands will be full. But, if he can turn this round, he will be doing not just the BJP but the country a huge service.