Clean Ganga

Email sent to PM on 5-Sep-2014

Dear PM,

Thank you for appointing group of IITians to look into Clean Ganga project. I have some raw ideas which I would like to share with you over email since Clean Ganga group is closed in MyGov.nic.in .

1. Fence both banks of Ganga so that garbage cannot be dumped into the river by people. We should fence those areas where population is more than 50,000.
2. Rain and flood water carry lots of garbage to Ganga. Fencing will prevent large part of that garbage coming to the river.
3. Put boulders on the banks of Ganga to prevent soil erosion.
4. Demolish all structures after proper compensation (unless it has historical or architectural value) within 1,000 ft of banks of Ganga and plant millions of trees in this 1,000 ft strip.
5. At every 50 km put a net/permeable membrane across Ganga to collect floating garbage and silt.
6. Remove silt manually or with machine during winter season when water level is low. Silt can be used for landscaping of the town, for enhancing fertility of the land and other purposes. Please see how river bed of Yellow river is lowered by removing silt http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2357967/Open-floodgates-Millions-tonnes-silt-forced-downstream-giant-dam-China.html 
7. We must aim to lower the bed of Ganga by 2 meters in 3 years and 6 meters in 8 years.
8. Ban immersion of idols in Ganga.
9. Move all burning ghats away from Ganga so that ashes cannot be thrown into the river.
10. At every ghat across the length of Ganga, cover one area of the river to perform rituals and 'Puja' so that flowers and other materials do not spill over into main river. Covered area must be cleaned every day. In Varanasi, Haridwar and other places people float lamps with flower which should be collected within half kilometer.
11. No picnic at the banks of Ganga.
12. At every 500 km specially after polluting cities like Varanasi, install basic water treatment plant over Ganga to remove suspended particulate and colloidal substances. 
13. Replace all boats by Ferry similar to Sydney Harbour at major Ghats across Ganga.
14. Clean each ghat and convert them into multi storied pavilion with shops and car parks where people can enjoy wonderful view of Ganga, see evening Arati, take bath and perform rituals.
15. Create theme park with ferry ride like Millennium park of Kolkata at 47 towns across Ganga.
16. Make ghats free from religious touts. Maintenance of ghats should be given to private company.
17. Millions of litres of sewage are dumped into Ganga every day. Expert panel can find a solution how to treat them before dumping into river. My solution would be to dig a canal circling the city and pour the sewage on the canal and reuse it for the water need of the city. We don't need to dig underground water. In Varanasi alone 2000 million litres of sewage are produced every day. 
18. Seek help from Japan, Germany how to manage solid waste. Reusable material should be separated from solid waste before it is crushed to 1/20th of its original volume. 
19. Buy out non biodegradable materials like plastics, metal cans etc from household so that people don't throw it into garbage bin. This will help to manage solid waste better.
20. I believe laws are in place for managing industrial waste.