River cleaning projects fail to take off; Govt rapped

New Delhi, Apr 11 (UNI) The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Forest and Environment has expressed serious concern over the ''tardy pace'' of executing river cleaning project and asked the Ministry of Forest and Environment to identify the causes and act without any delay.

The Ministry has submitted to the committee that targets of cleaning major rivers were unlikely to be achieved by 2007 and they might have to be extended to the 11th plan period.

The main reason given by the Ministry for failing to meet the deadline is lack of funds. Further delay in completing the project means further rise in the cost of the project.

The Committee in its 153rd report has said it has failed to understand why the issue of funds was not sorted out at the time of fixing the target.

It has sought the views of the Planning Commission and the Ministry in this regard.

''The Committee is not at all pleased with the present situation and recommends that all causative factors for the slow progress of the projects be identified and sorted out expeditiously and all out efforts made to accelerate the momentum required,'' it said in its report.

At present the National River Conservation Plan is being implemented in 32 rivers spread across 19 states and 158 towns.

The Ministry, in its reply to the committee said the Planning Commission has allocated Rs 1417 crore as the 10th plan outlay for the project under the plan as against the requirement of Rs 3066 crore.

It said that a demand had already been placed with the Planning Commission to increase the outlay during the mid-term review.

The Ministry also said that the approved works do not cover full pollution load in major rivers like Yamuna, Ganga etc for which an additional Rs 3064 crore was required.

All these requirements have been conveyed to the Planning Commission, it told the Committee. However, the Committee said it was not fully satisfied with the answer of the Ministry.

The Committee has also rapped the Ministry for the tardy pace of work on the lake conservation schemes.

They are moving without any specific targets and objectives, it said.

''The committee is anguished to note that even after repeated recommendations, the Ministry has not come out with any specific target to be achieved during a particular period,'' it said.

A big project like the National Lake Conservation Plan(NLCP), initiated in June 2001, which could play a significant role in restoring the environmehtal health of the country, was suffering from''lackadaisical approach'' of the government, it added.

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