Uma Bharti on 2,500-km tour along Ganga to oversee clean-up

New Delhi: Union minister Uma Bharti on Thursday set off on a tour to inspect execution of the Centre's 'Namami Gange' programme at various places along the Ganga in a bid to amplify efforts to clean up the heavily-polluted river.

Bharti will begin her 15-day trip from Ganga Sagar in West Bengal and culminate the same at Gangotri in Uttarakhand.

During the nearly 2,500-km tour, the water resources minister will also cover 25 other locations from the basin states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, besides Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

Apart from this, she will interact with various stakeholders during 'Ganga Chaupal' (meetings on issues relating to the river) at 24 locations in the five states to make the central programme a success.

Bharti will travel by road, boat, air and on foot during the journey, ministry spokesperson Samir Sinha said.

The minister will also visit Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute located in West Bengal's Barrackpore, he added.

The institute is specialised in fisheries research on the Ganga river.

The government has set itself a deadline of October, 2018 to clean the ailing river.