Modi to address 'Ganga Sammelan' in UP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the 'Ganga Sammelan' in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur that will focus on cleaning of the Ganga river from Gomukh in Uttarakhand to Ganga Sagar in West Bengal.

Though the date of the programme has not yet been finalised, preparations have begun for the same.

According to official sources, the programme is being organised by the Urban Development Ministry and will be held in IIT-Kanpur. District magistrate Vijay Vishwas Pant has visited the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to discuss the modalities of the Prime Minister's visit.

"Chief ministers of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal are being invited to the event where discussions will be held on making Ganga free from pollution. The Ganga flows through all these four states," said an official.

A discussion will also be held on the 1,600-km-long Prayagraj to Haldia waterway.

The cleaning of the Ganga river has been one of the priority sectors of the Modi government which had launched the Namami Gange project -- an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as 'Flagship Programme' by the Union government in June 2014 with budget outlay of Rs 20,000 crore to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of the Ganga river.