India, Germany join hands to clean Ganga

India on Wednesday joined hands with Germany to attain ‘pristine’ status of Ganga by adopting river basin management strategies used for cleansing rivers like Rhine and Danube of pollutants.

Ministry of Water Resources and German International Cooperation (GIZ), owned by the German Federal Government, signed an agreement in this regard. The agreement was signed in the presence of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation secretary Shashi Shekhar and German Ambassador to India Dr Martin Ney.

The objective of the agreement is to enable responsible stakeholders at national and state levels to apply integrated river basin management approach for Ganga’s rejuvenation, the Ministry said in a statement. “Initial actions will focus on Uttarakhand, with scope of expansion to other upstream Ganga States. The ultimate goal is to adopt successful river basin management strategies used for Rhine and Danube and replicate the same, wherever possible for attaining pristine status of river Ganga,” it said. The agreement will be based on “Indo-German Knowledge Exchange” and practical experience on strategic river basin management issues, effective data management system and public engagement, it said.