It is somewhat puzzling that the National Ganga Plan for which the Government has proposed an investment of Rs.20, 000 Crore up to 2020 does not plan to fully involve our scientific community in implementing it, except in a few sporadic assignments. One would expect that the entire force of the scientific community, spread across a wide range of disciplines, would be closely involved. Equally it would be a challenge to our scientists and engineers to come up with innovative solutions in ensuring the success of the project.
It is hoped that the Management Plan being drafted by IITs would be able to track down at a large number of institutions and individuals, who are qualified to think of innovative solutions to make the Project a success. There is indeed good potential to tap. It is rather surprising to find that there has been no agreed data on the waste treatment requirements, which in turn is based on the pollution sources surveyed and their....
