State Ganga river basin authority in Bihar; a welcome move

SAVE THE FAITH AND RIVER AS WELL

On lines of Union government’s National Ganga river basin authority GRBA), the State government of Bihar has also decided to set up a State Ganga River Basin Authority (SGRBA) to control water pollution, waste management and discharge of sewerage into this holy River. Decision to this effect has been taken in cabinet and notification is likely to be issued in a day or two.

This Authority would be headed by the Chief Minister himself and ministers and secretaries of Urban Development, Housing, Water Resources, Public health and engineering, forest and environment and finance would be the ex officio members of this authority.  Executive committee of this body would be headed by the chief secretary. The Managing Directors (MDs) of the state pollution control board and urban infrastructure development authority and Patna water board will be the special invitee members in this authority.

The civil society has welcomed this decision but has sounded some apprehensions also. The people of the state has reminded the government about the utter failure of Bihar State Water and Sewerage (BISWAS) board in which millions of rupees had been wasted and the scheme was left in lurch. The Supreme Court had also monitored this ambitious scheme which was under taken under Ganga Action Plan and was aimed at cleaning Ganga River and preventing it from being further polluted. Large numbers of sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs) and electric crematoriums were constructed but within few years, most of them rendered useless due to one reason or the other. The government vows to bring these constructions to use again by repairing or replacing them altogether. If this effort is successful, it would be a great service to Holy River Ganga which is getting polluted day by day and now at many places it has gone beyond repair.