Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge lashed out at the Narendra Modi-led central government for not making total use of the budget earmarked for the Namami Gange project. However, he emphasized that while the initiative has set very lofty promises, he was not able to meet many of the key targets.
Kharge has also accused the government of neglecting his promise to clean the Ganga in his official X (formerly Twitter) post. “Modi promised to clean the Ganga in his 2014 manifesto and the truth is that he has forgotten the promise,” said Modi, ” that ‘Mother Ganga called’ him but the truth is he has forgotten the Ganga promise.” Started in 2014, the Namami Gange scheme had a provision of ₹42,500 crore budget to be spent by March 2026. Still, as per answers of Parliament, the amount spent was only ₹19,271 crore till December 2024. That is, 55% of the funds are unspent. What was the reason for such indifference to Maa Ganga?
Rajya Sabha responded to this through an answer dated 1 November 2023 when they revealed that out of the Namami Gange projects, 38 percent are incomplete. He added that the government had misappropriated funds to build sewage treatment plants (STPs), which are important in the movement and prevent untreated wastewater from flowing into the river. He shared his state-wise data to tell us that states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal have not achieved their targets.
Kharge objected to the government rushing into grand announcements without doing enough to execute them. Speaking to reporters, he said that the Namami Gange project to clean up the river was far from its aim because it is not managed properly by the Centre. He called upon the government to be responsible for the execution of the project and finish it without delay.
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