The Finance Minister, Jaitley, in his maiden Budget Speech in the Parliament here today said that an amount of Rs. 2037 crore has been set aside for the Mission in the current Budget. Jaitley said that the Mission is being launched because a substantial amount of money has been spent in the conservation and improvement of the river Ganga but the efforts have not yielded desired results because of the lack of concerted effort by all the stakeholders.

To harness the enthusiasm of the NRI Community to contribute towards the conservation of the river Ganga, an NRI Fund for Ganga will be set up which will finance special projects, the Finance Minister added.

The Finance Minister has also set aside a sum of Rs. 100 crore for Ghat development and beautification of river front at Kedarnath, Haridwar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Patna and Delhi in the current financial year since Riverfronts and Ghats are not only places of rich historical heritage but many of these are also sacred.

The Budget also contains the first ever effort to link the rivers across the country. The Finance Minister has set aside a sum of Rs. 100 crore in the current Budget to expedite the preparation of Detailed Project Reports as a serious move in this direction.