Bihar wants Anna Hazare to bat for Ganga -Governance Now

Bihar wants Anna Hazare to bat for Ganga

Chief minister Nitish Kumar wants a silt management policy.

GN Bureau | May 17, 2017

#siltation #Nitish Kumar #Bihar #Farakka #Anna Hazare #Ganga #West Bengal

GN Photo

The Bihar government wants activist Anna Hazare to lead a mass movement on Ganga for them.

Last year, Bihar was one of the major victims of floods in the Gangetic plains. Almost 12 districts and hundreds of villages on the banks of Ganga and its tributaries were affected due to rising levels of waters in the river.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar claimed that while the floods are a natural phenomenon, the overflow of water was largely due to huge siltation. It reduces the depth of the river and causes the water to flow over the banks. He even asked the centre to either remove Farakka dam in West Bengal or come up with a silt management policy.

The Bihar government is now organising a conference in New Delhi on May 18-19 on this issue.

It has roped in Anna Hazare to lead a mass movement for them. Several scientists, activists and politicians would be meeting on Thursday to discuss sedimentation and siltation in the river.

Speakers like Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, waterman Rajendra Singh and professor GD Agrawal, will be participating in the meet. Prof GD Agrawal had sat on an indefinite hunger strike in Varanasi during the UPA rule to protest dams and exploitation of Ganga river.

Bihar water resource minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh said that siltation is even harming the ecosystem of the river. Slamming centre’s much hyped water highway projects, he claimed that the central government is carrying out dredging to sail big ships without studying the morphological, hydrological and ecological effects in the local ecosystem.

It is noteworthy that the national waterways bill passed by the parliament in 2016 seeks conversion of 101 rivers into a national waterway creating approximately 14,500 km of navigable waterways in the country.

READ: Ganga dam(ned)

Former professor at IIT-BHU, Prof UK Chaudhary, who is also joining the Bihar government’s conference, had slammed this move when he had spoken to Governance Now. “The government is completely ignoring the hydrology of Indian rivers. For example, in Ganga, you ply ships only if there is sufficient depth. If you increase the depth of the river via dredging, you will disturb its natural course. For a month the water transport will be smooth, but after a while the river will take its own course. The river bed will try to come to its natural form,” he says.

Comments

Other News

Supreme Court judge strength to go up by four to 37

The strength of the Supreme Court is set to go up from 33 judges to 37 judges, paving the way for a more efficient and speedier justice. The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the proposal for introducing The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 in Parliament to amend The Sup

BJP set to capture West Bengal

The political map of the country is set to be redrawn with the BJP set to win the West Bengal assembly elections, apart from Assam and the union territory of Puducherry. In Kerala, meanwhile, the Congress-led UDF is set to regain power. The filmstar Vijay-led TVK has emerged as the front-runner in Tamil Na

Beyond LPG: Is PNG ready for India’s next cooking fuel transition?

India, the second-largest importer and consumer of LPG after China, faces growing pressure due to supply constraints. Most of India`s LPG imports transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a focal point of global turmoil. Given that LPG forms the backbone of household kitchens and the restaurant industry, any s

Maharashtra adopts hybrid model for Census 2026 data collection

The government has initiated preparations for Census 2026 in Maharashtra, introducing a hybrid approach that combines optional self-enumeration with comprehensive door-to-door data collection to ensure complete coverage across the state. According to senior officials, the Self-

What the nine Indian Nobel winners have in common

A Touch Of Genius: The Wisdom of India’s Nobel Laureates Edited by Rudrangshu Mukherjee Aleph Books, Rs 1499, 848 pages

Income Tax dept holds Ghatkopar Outreach on new IT Act

The Income Tax Department organised an outreach programme in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, to raise awareness about the key features of the Income Tax Act, 2025, effective April 1, 2026. The initiative is part of a nationwide effort to promote taxpayer awareness, simplify compliance, and strengthen a transparent, eff