Patna, Dec. 22: Active participation from the state governments as well as local bodies can ensure success of a comprehensive plan like Ganga River Basin Management, stressed speakers at the project’s review meeting today.

“Why did the Ganga Action Plan, which was launched before the Ganga River Basin Management Plan, fail? It was only because the plan was not an integrated approach. The government thought it had no role to play after allocating the funds. But this should not be the approach for such an important issue. We all have to work together,” said Vinod Tare, the co-ordinator of Fluvial Geomorphology Group, a consortium of different institutions and universities. The group has been constituted by the ministry of environment and forests to look into the framework of the Ganga River Basin Management Plan.

Speaking at the meeting on the premises of Patna Science College, Tare said: “In my view, the Ganga River Basin Management Plan should be implemented by the local bodies. The state and central government should monitor the plan but the execution needs to be done at the local level.”

On the challenges before the group, Tare said it was difficult for the team to make the common people and officials realise the importance of rivers.

“The sustainable use of river water is required for long-term solutions and to make every one realise this is very difficult for us. Our emphasis is on spreading awareness about the issue and coming up with solution to the problems related to the Ganga basin. We are taking views from every section of society and would use the suggestions in the plan,” added Tare.

Eminent academics and scientist associated with the Fluvial Geomorphology Group, including IIT Kanpur faculty Rajiv Sinha and Delhi University pro-vice-chancellor (pro-VC) S.K. Tandon, attended the review meeting. Patna Science College geology teacher Atul Aditya Pandey, another member of the group, said the review will end on Friday.

Delhi University pro-VC Tandon emphasised on sewage treatment for reducing the load on river Ganga and the need to licence dams, which is a trend in the European countries now. “The government should think about licensing dams in India. This has been started in some countries where the renewal of the licence is taken into consideration after a period of time. Dams have a certain age, after which cracks start to appear. However, in India there are no such measures.”