Cleaning Ganga, linking of rivers and beautification of river banks were on top of the agenda of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who set aside Rs.2,037 crore for an integrated Ganga development project in the union budget 2014-2015.
The project will focus on conservation and improvement of the 2,525 km river flowing from the Himalayas and to the Bay of Bengal and considered holy by the Hindus.
"I propose to set up integrated Ganga conservation mission called 'Namami Ganga' and set aside a sum of Rs.2,037 crore for this purpose," said Jaitley who presented his maiden budget Thursday.
He announced Rs.100 crore for linking of rivers which, he said, can give "rich dividends" to the country.
"Unfortunately the country is not uniformly blessed with perennial rivers. Therefore, an effort to link the rivers can give rich dividends to the country. It is time that we made a serious effort to move in this direction. To expedite the preparation of the detailed project reports, I propose to set aside a sum of Rs.100 crore," Jaitley said.
To beautify the river ghats or banks, which he termed "historical heritage" of the country, Jaitley doled out Rs.100 crore in the budget.
"I propose to set aside a sum of Rs.100 crore for ghat development and beautification of river front at Kedarnath, Haridwar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Patna and Delhi in the current financial year," said Jaitley.
He announced that a NRI fund for conservation of river Ganga will be set up.
"To harness their (NRI) enthusiasm to contribute toward the conservation of river Ganga, an NRI fund for Ganga will be set up which will finance special projects," Jaitley said.
Meanwhile, Environmentalist Sunita Narain Thursday raised questions on allocations on clean energy and Ganga conservation that were announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his maiden budget Thursday.
On enhanced clean energy cess on coal, which has been increased from Rs.50 to Rs.100 per tonne, Narain - also the director general of the Centre for Science and Environment - said Jaitley did not spell out what will be done with this money.
"Currently, roughly Rs.3,000-3,500 crore is collected in the National Clean Energy Fund, but not much is spent. The Fund is important as it signals the need to make dirty coal more expensive to use. But the money is frittered away in many small projects," Narain said in a statement.
She expressed her reservations on duty exemptions and other mentions of solar and renewable energy in the budget.
"What the budget does not appreciate is the fact that the biggest future of solar energy in the country will be in decentralised and off-grid solutions - smaller power plants that provide clean energy to millions across India's grid and remote villages that have electricity lines but no power.
"Instead, budget 2014 falls back on the 'big' solar plants - announcing Rs.500 crore for ultra mega solar power plants," Narain said.
On the cleaning Ganga fund enhanced to Rs.2,037 crore, Narain said Jaitley said nothing about the re-direction needed to clean the river.
