4 ministries to work together for cleaning up the Ganges

New Delhi, Jun 6: As part of Prime Minister

's mission to clean up the

, four ministries would work hand in hand to cleanse the polluted holy river and make it a hub of spiritual

.

Announcing this at a press conference here today after a meeting of the ministries, Minister of Water Resources Uma Bharti said a meeting comprising four ministers from Surface Transport, Shipping, Tourism and Water Resources was convened today for the purpose.

"We will be incorporating ideas as and when required. Ganga is on our top priority. It is not that we are not prioritising other rivers but we will have to create a model first which can be replicated elsewhere," Bharti said.

The meeting, presided by Union Minister for Surface Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, was attended also by ministers for Environment, she added.

Bharti said the Centre and the Prime Minister were giving tremendous importance for Ganga and other rivers as had been assured during his election campaign. Gadkari said a committee, comprising the Secretaries of the four ministries set up for the purpose, would evaluate the entire Ganga cleaning project.

"To undertake dredging activities of up to 45 metres from Varanasi to Hoogly, the Ministry of Environment and Forest will evaluate the ecological impact of the proposal and will give us the report," he said.

"We have started technical evaluation of barrages that we intend to set up at a distance of every 100 km and use it for connectivity. It will also be utilised for goods and passenger transportation," he added.

PTI