MPs demand steps to save Yamuna, Ganga - Economic Times

NEW DELHI: MPs united across party lines to express concern over pollution in the Yamuna after leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj raised the issue, saying the river had become thoroughly polluted despite thousands of crores being spent on cleaning it. Congress, BJP, SP, BSP and RJD members joined Swaraj in expressing anguish over the state of Yamuna and Ganga, forcing environment and forests minister Jayanthi Natarajan to promise that she will work towards setting up a commission with powers to prevent "atrocities" against rivers. While BJP leaders referred to a march to save the Yamuna that reached the capital on Monday, other MPs like S P Singh Baghel of SP said the money sanctioned under various plans had been misutilized. The mood of the House was however strongly critical of efforts to clean the Yamuna and Speaker Meira Kumar said the sentiments of MPs should be considered as all members were keen to be associated with the demand to save the river. In Rajya Sabha, deputy leader of BJP Ravi Shankar Prasad pointed to the thousands of crores spent under various action plans to no avail. Trinamool Congress's Vivek Gupta said pollution in the Ganga in West Bengal had given rise to a host of diseases. SP's Darshan Singh Yadav and CPM's Prashanta Chatterjee also spoke of the health and environment impact of pollution. Natarajan told Rajya Sabha, "It will certainly be my endeavour to recommend to my leadership, and the Cabinet, just like we have a commission to check atrocities against women, to have a commission to ensure there are no atrocities against the Ganga and all major rivers.'' Responding to the opposition charge that the thousands of crores spent on the Ganga and Yamuna action plans had simply going down the drain without any improvement in the condition of the rivers, she said, "The members asked where the money went? I would like to tell them that if the Ganga and Yamuna action plans had not been implemented, the situation would have been much, much worse.'' While conceding that the government could have done much better, Natarajan reeled out statistics to maintain the government was trying to ensure that domestic effluents as well as industrial waste do not find their way into the rivers. The Centre, state governments and local municipal and urban bodies all have to come together to save the rivers, she said. Taking a dig at the government's inaction, Sw araj said the situation would have been different if the Yamuna had passed through Rae Bareli - the constituency of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. "The river remains thoroughly polluted and has dried up in Mathura and Vrindavan,'' she said. via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFAnHS9IejcmiNoOBGm9gwhGApr4g&url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/pollution/mps-demand-steps-to-save-yamuna-ganga/articleshow/18920476.cms

Put the internet to work for you. via Personal Recipe 2953939