New Delhi: Nitin Gadkari, Transport minister of India assumed the additional charge of water resources after a major cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With the beginning of his additional charge, Gadkari has announced major reform in the sector of water resources.
Gadkari announced the formation of an inter-ministerial task force to expedite the implementation of one of the centre’s flagship programmes, Namami Gange. The task force will majorly include ministers and officials from water resources, urban development, drinking water, sanitation and rural development.
“We will form a task force and will come out with a schedule of targets to be achieved under the mission. We will try to realise the dreams of the Prime Minister in a time-bound and transparent manner. We will attain all the deadlines fixed by Umaji”, he said as he made the announcement.
Accompanied by his predecessor Uma Bharti, he also said the ministry would come out with a detailed schedule on achieving various targets under the mission in a time-bound and transparent manner in a week.Uma Bharti, who preceded Gadkari as the former water resource minister expressed confidence that the ministry would be able to achieve its goals under Gadkari’s leadership.
Namami Gange, an ambitious flagship programme was launched by the Modi government in May 2015. With the launch of 300 projects including those of sewage treatment plants (STPs) installations aiming to clean the holy river and ensuring its unrestricted flow. Its implementation has been divided into three entry-level activities – One to be completed with immediate effect, medium-term activities to be completed within 5 years and long-term activities to be completed within 10 years.
Uma Bharti, during her tenure, assured that the projects under NamamiGange would be completed by 2020.
According to Bharti, the programme completely funded by the centre received Rs 20,000 for various activities such as sewage infrastructure, riverfront development, ghats and crematoria, ghat cleaning, rural sanitation etc.