At the 37th Executive Committee meeting of the National Mission for Clean Ganga on Friday, Chacha Chaudhary was declared as the mascot of the Namami Gange Programme and some major projects in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were discussed and evaluated.
National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) headed by its director general Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, has been focusing on youth as part of its outreach and public communications efforts as they are the impellers of change.
As a step towards this NMCG has tied-up with Diamond Toons to develop and distribute comics, e-comics and animated videos. The content will be designed with the objective of bringing about behavioural change amongst children towards Ganga and other rivers.
The total estimated budget for the project is Rs. 2.26 crore. Ashok Kumar Singh, Executive Director (ED), Projects, presented the project details and shared that Chacha Chaudhary can be useful in ground-level activation for Ganga rejuvenation. Initially, the comics will be launched in Hindi, English and Bengali.
Dipak Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Department Government of Bihar, India presented a proposal for conserving and sustainably managing Gangetic floodplain wetlands in Bihar. The major components of the project will be Wetland inventory and assessment, Wetland management planning, Wetland’s monitoring, and Capacity development and outreach. This will be a 100% centrally funded project with an estimated cost of Rs. 2.505 Cr. The proposal aims at creating a knowledge base and capacities for effective management of floodplain wetlands in the 12 Ganga districts in Bihar to ensure sustained provision of wetlands ecosystem services and securing biodiversity habitats.
He also gave an overview about the initiatives taken to conserve Gangentic Dolphins. He shared that the government is working on sensitizing local fishermen.
A Detailed Project Report (DPR) for “Interception and Diversion of Drains and Sewage Treatment Works at Pratapgarh, Uttar-Pradesh” was presented by Dr. Pravin Kumar Mutiyar, Director Technical, NMCG. The main aim of this project is reduction of pollution load from Pratapgarh into river Sai along with the improvement in bio-diversity and eco-system of the river and improvement in general hygiene and sanitation. It will also add to the overall aesthetics of the area.
Major components of this project will be Interception and Diversion of drains discharging into the river to existing STPs, development of 12.472 KM sewer line for connection of drains to STP.
