India Inc should undertake Ganga cleaning and river rejuvenation projects under their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes, road transport and water resources minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.
Corporations can build ghats, crematoriums and adopt river development projects as the government is looking to enter into memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with the private sector, the minister said at PHD Chamber’s annual session here.
Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 requires companies above a certain size to spend at least 2% of their average net profit for the immediately preceding three financial years on CSR activities. Gadkari also said the government would soon launch 150 projects for Ganga cleaning and development.
“Bigger cities such as Kanpur and Mathura pollute the Ganga more. We will start 150 projects by March 2018 to check discharge of polluted water into the Ganga based on recycling,” he said.
The minister also said the pollution levels in Ganga would be down by 50% in the next two years.
