Corporate push to Namami Gange

Corporate push to Namami Gange

In its efforts to give corporate push to Namami Gange, National Mission on Clean Ganga (NMCG), under Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation organised a workshop in New Delhi on Thursday.

Representatives from several public sector enterprises, banks and corporates participated diligently in the workshop on CSR activities for Ganga Rejuvenation. Not only did participants showed keen interest in activities being undertaken under Namami Gange programme, major areas of possible co-operation between NMCG and public and corporate sectors were also extensively deliberated upon in the workshop.

The workshop was attended by representatives from Maharatna, Navratna and other PSUs – ONGC, Coal India limited, BHEL, GAIL India ltd., SAIL, NTPC Ltd., Oil India Ltd., Petronet LNG ltd., etc. Stimulating response was witnessed during interactions with representatives of public and private sector banks like SBI, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, HDFC, ICICI, Yes Bank, OBC, UCO Bank etc., who eagerly shared their enlightening ideas to further the cause of clean Ganga. Over 20 banks took part in the workshop. Corporate companies like Aditya Birla Group JSW and Tata Sons also got fruitfully involved in the event and presented their views.

Addressing the gathering, Director General, NMCG, Shri UP Singh delineated various on-going sewage treatment, river cleaning, bio-diversity and public participation projects under Namami Gange programme before shedding light on areas of common interests. Shri Singh, while stressing on the importance of co-operation from both public and private sector in achieving success, invited all the participants to share with NMCG their invaluable ideas and suggestions. Throwing some light on Clean Ganga Fund, he explained that it is a trust chaired by Union Finance Minister and was set up in 2014 to harness the enthusiasm of those who would like to contribute to the conservation of river Ganga. Contributions to Clean Ganga Fund are a notified CSR activity.

During the much productive interactive sessions, especially Q&A, various companies apprised about their existing CSR activities. Many expressed their willingness to work with NMCG in this sector and contribute to Namami Gange activities in five Ganga basin States. A representative from Coal India Ltd., said: “As part of our CSR activities, we have devised a mechanism to transform waste generated from flower offerings into fertilizers”. An association on these lines with NMCG could also be thought upon, the official added. Some similar CSR initiatives by GAIL (to make fuel out of plastic waste) and BHEL (construction of bio-toilets) were also talked about during the workshop, which ended with a promise of optimism from all quarters.