New Delhi, December 16
After crores literally flowing down the drain through ambitious river-saving projects like the Ganga and Yamuna action plans, the government is planning to take control of five major rivers, which hold immense spiritual, emotional and religious significance for the people of the country, and declare those as national heritage.
The ministry of water resources plans to put forth the proposal for declaring the Ganga, the Yamuna, the Gomti, the Krishna and the Tapti as national rivers under the control of the Centre before the Cabinet, a move that will shift their control from the state to the Central list.
Sources add that the list includes two other rivers as well.
Whether it is the Ganga, the Yamuna, the Tapti, the Gomti or the Krishna, a majority of rivers in the country are an ecological mess due to industrial pollution and bad management.
For the two holiest rivers in the country, the Yamuna and the Ganga, despite massive investment running into crores for upkeep and purity, there has been no end to pollution through millions of gallons of waste water and industrial effluents.
As per a Central Water Commission (CWC) official, most rivers are inter-state, which means that different states are likely to have different priorities on the maintenance and upkeep of rivers.
In the Constitution, water is a matter included in entry 17 of list II, that is, the state list, and therefore, any change in the control of the rivers can be expected to be a lengthy process, requiring several legal and procedural steps.
How these changes will be brought about is not clear, but as per the official, a bill is likely to be brought about, vesting all powers for clearing impurities and maintenance of these rivers through a special plan with
the CWC.
Another proposal, the formation of a national flood management authority in place of the flood regulatory authority for effective control of floods across states, will be put before the Cabinet.
The authority, under the operational control of the CWC, will be vested with powers to give directions to states, which the regulatory authority has been unable to do.
