The National Mission for Clean Ganga was awarded the ‘Special Jury Award’ at the 7th India Industry Water Conclave and 9th edition of FICCI Water Awards, held virtually, from 2nd to 3rd March, 2022.
The distinguished Jury of the FICCI Water Awards consisting of eminent people such as Dr. Mihir Shah, Distinguished Professor, Shiv Nadar University and Chair of the Jury, Prof. A.K. Gosain, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT, Delhi, Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni, Founder Trustee and Executive Director Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM), and Mr. VK Madhavan, Chief Executive, WaterAid India acknowledged the significance of NMCG’s work in Ganga rejuvenation.
The citation with the Award reads: ‘The Jury wishes to recognize the extremely important work NMCG is engaged in, to bring about a paradigm shift in water management, even as they endeavor to revive river Ganga. The Jury would like to emphasize the need to work even further on involving primary stakeholders to build a real Jan Andolan around the river Ganga and to pay greater attention to bringing together all departments and agencies whose joint efforts are needed to revive the river Ganga, recognizing that rejuvenating the river requires working on its entire riverscape, with its inter-connected hydrological and ecological systems, not limited only to the main stem of the river but also including all different orders of streams and their catchments, as also the aquifers that provide base-flows to the river’.
The Citation underlines the complexity of the task of rejuvenation of the entire Ganga basin and the importance of engaging with diverse stakeholders particularly the people-river connect which forms the basis of NMCG’s approach to the challenging task.