Open letter to Uma Bharti, Minister for Water Resources

Hon’ble Madam,
 
Namaskar,  

Kindly accept my hearty felicitation for your Ministry’s Gazette Notification dated October 7, 2016 regarding Ganga Rejuvenation, Protection and Management. It is a very timely and bold step that reflects your personal deep concern for the rivers, particularly for Mother Ganga. The fact that the notification is rooted in the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986, provides its provisions enormous strength for their implementation. I sincerely hope that the State and District level Ganga Protection Committees will be constituted without delay and that the NMCG will start functioning as the Ganga Authority very soon.
 
Respected Madam,

I wish to draw your kind attention to two major errors and omissions in the Notification. 

First

May I, therefore, suggest that the issue of flows be examined thoroughly and the flow requirements be expressed by a well-defined term that is used uniformly throughout the text. ‘Environmental Flows’ is today an internationally accepted and used term that take care of both water and sediments.

Second

Third

I humbly request you to kindly consider the above-noted suggestions expeditiously in the interest of River Ganga for which this useful notification has been issued. I sincerely hope that appropriate actions will be taken at the earliest. 

With respectful regards

Brij Gopal
Coordinator, Centre for Inland Waters in South Asia
Chairman, SIL Working Group on Inland Waters of Tropical Asia

Views expressed by the author are personal.