More than two decades after Rajiv Gandhi conceptualised the Ganga Action Plan (GAP), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday decided to declare Ganga a ‘National River’ to achieve the objectives of the clean-up operation. The decision was taken during a review of the Ganga Action Plan by the Prime Minister.

The meeting also decided to set up a Ganga River Basin Authority, which will be entrusted with the responsibility of planning, implementing and monitoring projects regarding the river. The authority, headed by the Prime Minister, would comprise of chief ministers of states through which the Ganga flows.

Unlike the original Ganga Action Plan, which primarily focused on municipal sewage treatment, Tuesday’s decisions are aimed at broad-basing the river management efforts, integrating pollution control with measures for sustainable use of water and flood management.

“It was decided that there is a need to replace the current piecemeal efforts taken up in a fragmented manner in select cities with an integrated approach that sees the river as an ecological entity and addresses issues of quantity in terms of water flows along with issues of quality,” said a release issued by the PMO after the meeting. The funding pattern is likely to be finalised in two months.