Ganga Action plan (GAP)

 Ganga Action plan (GAP) = Ganga Action Plan Overview

1. Ganga action plan was started in 1986 with the objective of pollution abatement from river Ganga.

2. GAP – Ganga Action Plan is a 100% centrally sponsored scheme. Under this plan, the National River Ganga basin authority was established and declared Ganga as a national river of India.

3. Ganga Action Plan was directed by Rajiv Gandhi. The authority is headed by the prime minister and chief ministers of all the states in which river Ganga flows.

4. GAP was divided into two phases. Phase-I started in 1985 and covered the then three states, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar and West Bengal (WB).

5. Phase-II of GAP was launched in 1993, which covers seven states that include Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Delhi and Haryana.

6. In the second phase, Ganga action plan was created for all these tributaries. The national river conservation plan was started under the same program for the 2nd phase.

7. It included tributaries of Ganga as well like Yamuna, Mahananda, Gomti, Damodar.

8. The Ministry of Environment and forests (MoEF) was made in charge of the overall design and implementation of GAP.

9. Central Ganga Authority (CGA) came into existence under the Environment Protection Act 1986, headed by the Prime Minister of India.

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