Budget 2020-21: Narendra Modi’s yet another flagship programme witnessed a speed bump as the funding for cleaning Ganga was cut by almost 50 per cent in the revised estimates for the current financial year, The Indian Express reported. Due to the poor expenditure level, the government has only spent Rs 346.6 crore for plan drafted to clean the river Ganga. Under the Namami Gange project, the NDA government had allocated Rs 700 crore to the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. Another Rs 50 crore was allocated to the ‘ghat beautification’ of the riverfronts, the report said.
The Ministry of Water Resources had only spent Rs 200 crore till December 13 whereas all od Rs 50 crore was unspent till December, according to the information provided under the RTI Act to The Indian Express. While the efforts to clean the Ganga began in the 1980s, it could not gain pace for almost 20 years till 2014 and witnessed expenditure of Rs 4,000 crore between 1985 and 2014. When Narendra Modi took the reigns for India in 2014, a centrally funded scheme- Namami Gange was introduced with an outlay of Rs 20,000 crore for five years. Despite the funding, the government had earlier said that it will take longer than it was expected to clean Ganga.
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Cleaning the river was not the only project whose funding remained unutilised in the current fiscal. According to the report, Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP) had been allocated Rs 150 crore, but only Rs 2.49 crore was used by December 23. “The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojna, which was conceived for amalgamating ongoing schemes, was given Rs 2,066 crore for the current year, but only Rs 437.10 crore was spent till December 23,” the report added. Similar trends were also seen in some schemes of the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME). While the government allocated Rs 121.69 crore National SC/ST Hub scheme, only Rs 35.12 crore was utilised.