Centre issues norms for minimum Ganga flow

NEW DELHI: The central government on Wednesday notified the minimum environmental flow for river Ganga that has to be maintained at various locations.

Environmental flows refer to the acceptable flow regimes that are required to maintain a river in the desired environmental or predetermined state.

“We have taken this step to ensure a minimum amount of flow in the river,” Union minister of water resources, river development and ganga rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The notification aims to ensure that Ganga has the minimum required environmental flow of water even after the river flow gets diverted by projects and structures for purposes like irrigation, hydropower, domestic and industrial use.

“This is a huge step . We will do it for Yamuna and other rivers also, all the rivers of the country will also say ‘me too’ now,” said minister for drinking water and sanitation Uma Bharti. The government also announced that the draft Ganga Act will soon be sent to the cabinet for approval. The draft act addresses critical issues pertaining to Ganga’s cleanliness and uninterrupted environmental flow and provides corresponding provisions thereof. The Centre had formed a committee in 2016 under the chairmanship of Justice (retired) Giridhar Malviya to frame a draft for the Ganga act, in a bid to provide stricter action against polluting the river.