Congress President Kharge Slams PM Modi Over Indifference Towards 'Mother Ganga'

Kharge said, Modi ji had claimed that 'Mother Ganga had called him,' but the truth is that he has 'forgotten' his guarantee of cleaning the Ganga.

About 11 years ago, in 2014, the Namami Gange scheme was launched. Under the Namami Gange scheme, a fund of ?42,500 crore was to be utilized by March 2026, but answers given to questions in Parliament reveal that only ?19,271 crore has been spent till December 2024”the congress chief said.

“This means that the Modi government has not even spent 55% of the Namami Gange scheme’s funds. Why so much indifference towards Mother Ganga?",he claimed.

He said  in 2015, PM Modi urged some  NRI friends to contribute to the Clean Ganga Fund. By March 2024, ?876 crore had been donated to this fund, but 56.7% of it remains unutilized. About 53% of this fund was donated by public sector undertakings,he alleged.

 A Rajya Sabha response from November 2024 states that 38% of Namami Gange projects are still pending. Out of the total allocated funds for building Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), 82% was supposed to be spent, but 39% of STPs remain incomplete, and even those that are completed are not operational.

In Uttar Pradesh - 75% of the drains that were supposed to be diverted to STPs are still dumping polluted water directly into the Ganga, with 3,513.16 million liters per day (MLD) of sewage being discharged. 97% of STPs have not complied with regulations (November 2024).

In Bihar - 46% of STPs are not operational; the rest do not meet faecal coliform level standards (October 2024).

In West Bengal - 40 STPs are non-functional; 95% do not meet NGT standards; 76.16% fail to comply with MoEF norms (March 2024).

In November 2024, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) expressed strong displeasure over the administration’s failure to maintain the cleanliness of the Ganga in PM Modi’s parliamentary constituency, Varanasi. Issuing a stern rebuke, the tribunal even suggested putting up a board along the riverbank stating that the Ganga water in the city is not safe for bathing.

He stated that the latest Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report, released in February 2025, found faecal coliform levels far exceeding the safe limit of 2,500 units/100 mL. At Shastri Bridge in Prayagraj, it was 11,000 units/100 mL, and at Sangam, it was 7,900 units/100 mL.

“Other research indicates that due to the increase in solid waste, the transparency of Ganga water has dropped to just 5%, signaling severe pollution. Between May and June 2024, plastic pollution in the Ganga increased by 25%, further deepening the pollution crisis”,Kharge claimed.

He said under the name of "Ganga Gram," the Modi government has only constructed toilets. Afforestation was planned across 1,34,106 hectares along the Ganga in five states at a cost of ?2,294 crore, but by 2022, 78% of the afforestation had not been completed, and 85% of the funds remained unspent, as revealed by an RTI.

“The Ganga is a life-giver. It is India’s cultural and spiritual heritage, but under the guise of cleaning the Ganga, the Modi government has only deceived Mother Ganga”,the congress president said.