The
Times of India: Varanasi: Friday, November 02, 2012.
The Ganga
Maha Sabha, an organisation working for the cause of River Ganga has accused
the central government of not providing desired and complete information sought
under the RTI Act.
"We made
a second appeal when we were not provided complete information the first time.
But we were denied the information the second time too," said Acharya
Jitendra, the general secretary of Ganga Maha Sabha.
The Ganga
Maha Sabha in its first appeal dated August 8, 2012 sought three-point
information. The first was to provide the copies of government orders (GOs)
issued on the basis of the decisions taken in the three meetings of National
Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) under the chairmanship of the Prime
Minister on October 5, 2009, November 1, 2010 and April 17, 2012.
The second
appeal was to provide the copy of the GO that assigned the task of cleaning the
Ganga to National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMGC), while the third point was
regarding funds provided to NGRBA for the conservation and cleaning of the
river since 2009.
According to
Acharya, in his first appeal, he received information on August 23, 2012 about
the funds sanctioned and released to different states for the implementation of
NGRBA projects, and the decisions taken in the three meetings of NGRBA.
"The ministry did not provide copies of GOs that we had applied for,"
he said, wondering why the government is hesitating in providing the GO copies.
He said
instead of giving the copies of the GO for affixing responsibility of Ganga
cleaning to NMCG, the ministry responding to the second appeal (dated September
19, 2012), provided the copy of memorandum of association of the NMCG, a
registered society formed for the implementation of work programmes of NGRBA.
It may be
mentioned here that The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had
approved the Ministry of Environment and Forests' proposal for 'World Bank
assistance to NGRBA for abatement of pollution of river Ganga' at an estimated
cost of Rs 7000 crore.
The World
Bank Board has also accorded approval to this project and the loan agreement
with World Bank was signed on June 14, 2011. The World Bank will support the
Government of India by providing technical assistance and financing of USD 1
billion (approx Rs 4600 crore). To facilitate project implementation project
and monitoring, NMGC, a registered society, was formed at the central level.
According to
the memorandum of association of NMCG, besides many other works, the NMCG would
implement the work programme of NGRBA and the World Bank-supported NGRBA
projects, coordinate and oversee the implementation of projects sanctioned by
MoEF and NGRBA, and undertake any additional work or functions as may be
assigned by MoEF.
The governing
council, which is vested with overall management of the society, is headed by
the secretary, MoEF, and the other 12 members include secretaries, additional
secretaries, principal secretaries of different ministries and state
governments, and chairman of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Besides, the
governing council may co-opt up to three experts as members in addition to
these members. "We also want to know whether the government officials in
service can be made members of a registered society or NGO," said Acharya.
According to
the information provided under RTI Act, the centre has sanctioned Rs 2598.47
crore out of which an amount of Rs 492.06 has been released to different states
for the implementation of NGRBA projects.
.JPG)
.JPG)
