NEW DELHI: With only a left year left for the general elections and no visible progress in the Namami Gange programme, the Narendra Modi government has brought back an old hand for implementing its flagship project.
Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, a 1987 batch IAS officer from Andhra Pradesh cadre, was reinstated as chief of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) — three years after he was shunted out for slow progress of work.
According to sources, the decision to bring back Mishra was taken following intervention of the Prime Minister’s Office. “It is expected that some other officials, who were initially part of planning the river cleaning work, will also be brought back to the NMCG,” said a source in the water resources ministry.
Mishra was looking after the project from May 2013 to February 2015. Before he was shifted to the urban development ministry, he and his team did the initial planning for work to be carried in five states. Ever since, three mission heads have changed. UP Singh, who took over as the water resources secretary in November 2017, was holding the charge till now. Rajat Bhargava and TVSN Prasad also held the responsibility for short durations.
“Mishra has been brought back as it was felt in the PMO that it was better to give the work to an old hand. He played a part in designing and planning of the entire plan,” said the source.
Just before filing his nomination papers at Varanasi for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Modi had famously announced “Ma (mother) Ganga has called me”. Four years on, there is no major change visible on ground.
Frequent change of mission heads is attributed as one of the causes for delay in work.
The Supreme Court has pulled up the government over sluggish progress in cleaning the river. In July last year, the National Green Tribunal said the quality of Ganga water has not improved even after spending over Rs 7, 300 crore (till March 2017).
In its latest report, the CAG reported poor utilisation of funds, no finalisation in long-term action plans and delay in award of contract for sewage treatment plants. Nearly Rs 500 crore was lying unutilised with the NMCG and other agencies including states, the national auditor said.
The mission authority could not finalise the long-term action plans even after more than six- and-a-half years of signing of agreement with a consortium of IITs, it said. “As a result, the National Mission for Clean Ganga doesn’t have a river basin management plan even after a lapse of more than eight years of the National Ganga River Basin Authority notification.”