Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav Saturday met union Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Uma Bharti at his official residence here and discussed irrigation projects and cleaning up of rivers.
The chief minister told the union minister that the state government was committed to clean the Ganga river and its tributaries.
The state government was making its own efforts in this direction, the chief minister said while assuring the visiting minister that his government would extend all assistance and cooperation to all efforts initiated by the union government.
Referring to the cleaning up of tributaries and assisting rivers of the Ganga, the chief minister said it was imperative that they were also cleaned up to ensure pure and clean flow of the Ganga. He said he also expected help from the union government to clean up the Kali river.
Bharti spoke about establishing the Ganga University, to which the chief minister assured all help at all levels and requested her to set up an office of the Ganga Flood Control Center in the state.
Approving of it, Uma Bharti said this office will be opened in Lucknow.
A consensus was arrived at the meeting to divert drains in Kanpur, Mathura and Vrindavan and to ensure that only treated sewage reaches the Ganga river. It was also decided that the state government would send to the centre, all river front development proposals for places like Garhmukteshwar, Kannauj, Kanpur, Allahabad and Varanasi situated on the banks of the Ganga.