A Decade-Long Struggle to Clean Ganga at Varanasi

The National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD)

NRCD was constituted in the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India sometime in the first half of the decade preceding the millennium year.

• It services the National River Conservation Authority (NRCA) with the Honourable Prime Minister of India in charge.
• It is in charge to run the National River Action Plan to clean the rivers of India.
• NRCD and NRCA were created by dissolving the historical Ganga Project Directorate (GPD) and Central Ganga Authority (CGA).
• The CGA and GPD were created in February 1985 by the Government of India when Honourable Shri Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister. CGA and GPD were created to run Ganga Action Plan (GAP), the most important public welfare project of the Government of India to clean the Ganga river on which about 40% of the Indian population depends for its need of fresh water.