In Pictures: Govt Commits Rs 20,000 Crore to Clean up the Ganga

PM Modi’s pet Ganga cleaning programme has been cleared which allocates Rs 20,000 crore to clean up the river.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet Ganga cleaning and protection programme was cleared on Wednesday and given a whopping Rs 20,000 crore budget, a four-fold increase over the money spent in the last three decades for the river’s conservation.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Modi approved the flagship Namami Gange programme which integrates the efforts to clean and protect the Ganga river in a comprehensive manner.
– Government Statement

Since 1986, when the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi launched the ‘Ganga Action Plan’, the government has spent roughly Rs 4,000 crore on cleaning up the river.

A man rows his boat in the river Ganga in Allahabad. (Photo: Reuters)

The Ganga is one of the most polluted rivers in the world. (Photo: Reuters)

Industrial discharge, sewage and rotting remains of dead bodies have increased levels of pollution in the Ganga in recent years. (Photo: Reuters)

WHO says pollutants in the Ganga are more than 3,000 times the safe limit. (Photo: Reuters)