Days after it advised all District Ganga Committees to address the issue of bodies being dumped in the river, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) Saturday asked Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to submit a “detailed report” in two days, it is learnt.
Sources said this was conveyed by NMCG to senior officials of both states during a meeting chaired by Jal Shakti Secretary Pankaj Kumar on Saturday.
Both states were asked to give a “detailed report” on the issue of dumping of bodies in the river as well as its tributaries, a source said.
Sources said that the impact of the floating bodies on the Ganga’s water quality was also a topic that came up for discussion.
“The CPCB has been asked to increase the frequencies of sampling of Ganga water,” said the source.
The states have been asked to focus on critical districts while alerting all districts to prevent dumping of the dead bodies in river Ganga, the source said.
“Not only throwing of dead bodies in rivers but burial in sand along rivers also needs to be prevented,” the source said.
State officials said they have issued orders to prevent such incidents and have stepped up patrolling along the ghats on rivers.
“States said that they have issued orders for supporting cremation giving financial support,” the source said.
The video conference meeting was attended by Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Director General, NMCG; Rajnish Dubey, Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development), Uttar Pradesh; Anurag Shrivastava, Principal Secretary, Jal Shakti, Uttar Pradesh; Anand Kishore, Principal Secretary (Urban Development), Bihar; SK Haldar, Chairman, Central Water Commission; Dr Prashant Gargava, Member Secretary, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB); and officials from State Pollution Control Boards and State Ganga Missions from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.