PM Modi evinces keen interest in Project Arth Ganga for economic activities
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reviewed the plans being envisaged for implementing “Project Arth Ganga”. PM Narendra Modi during the first meeting of the National Ganga Council in Kanpur on December 14, 2019, had conceptualized ‘Arth Ganga’ to energise the economic activity along the Ganga river bank. The Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) aimed to develop river Ganges as a safe mode of navigation and is being implemented with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank. ‘Project Arth Ganga’ envisages re-engineering the JMVP by involving the local community with a focus on economic activities in and around the Ganga river. Small jetties along the Ganga to boost the economic activities at the community level will be set up as part of the “Project Arth Ganga” to energise economic activity along river banks in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. About 40 floating jetties and 10 pairs of Ro-Ro terminals are being planned on River Ganga in the four states in the Gangetic belt, which will bring down the logistics cost for farmers in the movement of local produce. Apart from providing benefits in terms of trade and access to markets, local community’s economic enhancement and passenger facilitation, the ‘Arth Ganga’ project will also ensure large scale skills enhancement and public/private sector capability development. “Project Arth Ganga” would catalyze economic development in the Ganga basin to generate an economic benefit of more than Rs 1000 crores over the next 5 years.
