NEW DELHI: Consolidating administration over water related issues further under one ministry, the Centre has taken out the National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD) from environment ministry and made it an integral part of the ‘Jal Shakti’ ministry which will now be responsible for rejuvenation of all rivers across the country.
The directorate is currently implementing river conservation plan in 15 states, covering polluted stretches of 33 rivers in 76 towns/cities at a sanctioned cost of over Rs 4,801 crore. Its responsibility is to implement centrally sponsored national river conservation plan (NRCP) for all rivers across the country except the national river Ganga and its tributaries.
“The move, notified by the cabinet secretariat, will now bring issues of conservation, development, management and abatement of pollution of all rivers under one ministry unlike previous arrangements where river Ganga and its tributaries were the responsibility of water resources ministry while other rivers were being looked after by the environment ministry,” said an official.
The cabinet secretariat brought the change by notifying the ‘Government of India (Allocation of Business) 350th Amendment Rules, 2019’ on June 14.
Matters relating to the river Ganga and its tributaries were taken out from the environment ministry in 2014 when the government under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first term had made it part of the then ministry of water resources for giving focussed attention on its rejuvenation. Issues relating to Ganga and its tributaries are being looked after by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) under the ministry.
The same water resources, Ganga rejuvenation and river development ministry is the ministry of ‘Jal Shakti’ which will now have the NRCD too in its fold. The environment ministry will, however, continue to have responsibility over issues relating to biodiversity conservation of lakes, wetlands, coastal waters, mangroves and coral reefs.
The rivers which are currently being covered under the directorate’s NRCP include Godavari in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana; Mandovi in Goa; Sabarmati and Mindhola in Gujarat; Subarnarekha in Jharkhand; Cauvery in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu; Pamba in Kerala; Tapti and Narmada in Madhya Pradesh; Mahanadi in Odisha and Satluj in Punjab among others.
Under the NRCP, the Centre has taken up pollution abatement measures through setting up sewage treatment plants (STPs) along identified polluted river stretches in different towns/cities as per the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) list. The CPCB had in 2015 identified 302 polluted river stretches on 275 rivers across the country.
The same June 14 notification of the cabinet secretariat formally subsumed the erstwhile ministry of drinking water and sanitation under the ministry of ‘Jal Shakti’ and made department of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying as a separate ministry after taking it out from the agriculture ministry.
By Vishwa Mohan|TNN
