Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Satyapal Singh today urged officials of National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) and Survey of India to work in an integrated manner and make optimal use of latest geo-spatial technologies to rejuvenate river Ganga. The Minister reiterated that all steps to clean Ganga must be taken up and executed in a time-bound manner.Followed by a brief introduction by NMCG, Director, NRSC, Dr. Y V N Krishna Murthy gave a detailed presentation on “Geospatial Technology Support for National Mission for Clean Ganga” during which several issues vis-à-vis Ganga Rejuvenation were discussed. DG, NMCG Shri U P Singh was also present on the occasion. Director, Survey of India, Shri D N Pathak also made a small presentation. Shri Satya Pal Singh asked the officials to come up with a water quality monitoring app and work in the direction of developing a water testing kit that can be distributed to people. He reaffirmed that geo-spatial and crowd sourcing technologies like Bhuvan Ganga app must be used effectively to evoke a mass movement and as many people as possible should be involved in clean Ganga movement. He stressed on the need to popularize Namami Gange programme using such technologies.“We should encourage people who are ready to become part of clean Ganga movement and can give incentives to the ones who are doing exemplary work in this field,” The Minister said adding, “Technology can play the role of a bridge between the government and the people.”
He said that all work on Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping of river Ganga should be expedited.Expressing concerns over the pace of work related to use of geo-spatial technologies in Ganga cleaning, the Minister exhorted the officials of various departments to sit together and prepare a timeline for projects that are ongoing and being envisaged. “The timelines will have to be made and strictly adhered to” he stressed. National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), which is a part of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been supporting NMCG to use geospatial technology for water quality monitoring, hydrological monitoring and evaluation, geomorphological monitoring and evaluation, bioresources monitoring and evaluation, comprehensive geospatial database, develop mobile application for enabling community participation and to co-ordinate necessary linkages with other agencies. The support is aimed at achieving the objective of monitoring of pollution in river Ganga. NMCG also strives to achieve GIS mapping of the entire Ganga river basin for effective execution and decision-making. Some of the tasks enlisted by NRSC as part of support to NMCG are generation of comprehensive GIS database, water quality assessment using satellite data of main Ganga from Kannauj to Varanasi, real time water quality data visualization, high quality multispectral satellite image, aerial topographical survey, urban sprawl change mapping, non-point source pollution assessment etc. A holistic approach is being adopted by NMCG to keep river Ganga clean by identifying five km. stretches from the edge of the bank/flood plain to the nearest main road for a comprehensive planning approach.