Government unveiled its plan to plant over four crore trees in next five years as Union Water Resource Minister Uma Bharati stressed on planting of Himalayan species vegetation that will produce Brahmadrav, which she said, ensures clean river water.

• Releasing the detailed project report (DPR), Bharati said Brahmadrav is “not a myth or faith but fact” as she insisted on planting of “suitable” vegetation to ensure ecological flow (e-flow) of the river is adequate.
• Suggesting that no river like Ganga can be cleaned over a short span of time, the Minister cited examples of Rhine and Thames rivers, which she said took 40 years and 27 years respectively to be cleaned.
• The DPR release ceremony was also attended by Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.
• Water Resource Secretary Shashi Shekhar said the government will plant native species all along the river’s stretch and the work is expected to get underway from monsoon this year.
• The government has earmarked Rs 2293.73 crore for carrying out forestry intervention.
• Of this, Rs 951 crore will be spent during 2016-17. Nearly 90 per cent of the fund will be spent on the intervention.
• A day-long workshop was also organised to mark the release of DPR.
• According to the Water Resource Ministry, the DPR has been prepared by Forest Research Institute (FRI) after consultations with various stakeholders and incorporating science-based methodology over a period of one year.
• This included use of remote sensing and GIS technologies for spatial analysis and modeling of pre-delineated Ganga riverscape covering 83,946 sq km out of a much larger Ganga River basin within the country, it said.
• The project will be implemented over a period of five years by the State Forest Departments of these five states in Phase-I (2016-2021).