The Ganga river system consist of river Ganga and its tributries as it has a large basin and cultural significance. Ganga river is declared as ‘National river of India’ in 4 Nov 2008.

The Ganga basin cover about 861,404 Sq km (26.3% of total geographical area of country).

It is shared by Uttarakhand (110 km), Uttar Pradesh (1,450 km), Bihar (445 km), and West Bengal (520 km).

Total length of Ganga river is 2,525 km.

The Ganga originates as Bhagirathi from the Gangotri glacier in Uttrakhand at an elevation of 7,010 m.

It is joined by Alaknanda at Devprayag. The Alaknanda has its source in the Satopnath glacier above Badrinath.

Before joining at Devprayag, Pindar, Mandakini and Dhauliganga rivers pour into Alaknanda.

The combined water of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda is called Ganga below Devprayag.

After travelling 280 km from its source, the Ganga reaches Haridwar. From here it flow in south and south-east direction for about 770 km and is joined by Yamuna at Allahabad.

Then it flows for 300 km eastwards to reach the Bihar plains. It then turns to the south-east and south after passing the Rajmahal hills.

After passing through Farakka, it bifurcates into Bhagirathi-Hugli in West Bengal and Padma-Meghna in Brahmaputra.

Before entering Bay of Bengal, the Ganga along with Brahmaputra forms the largest delta of the World, the Sunderbans delta covering on area of 58,752 Sq m.

It is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forest, presenting an excellent example of ongoing ecological processes.

Right bank tributary _ Yamuna, Son, Tons, Karmanasa, Punpun, Kiul.

Left bank tributary _ Ramganga, Gomti, Ghaghra, Gandak, Kosi, Mahananda.

The Ganga is the most important and sacred river of India. According to Pandit Nehru, ”From her source to the sea, from old times to new, Ganga is the story of India’s Civilization.” In fact, this river to beyond water’s material uses, which are critical to life and development, is associated with fertility and spiritual nourishment of the people.

This most important and sacred river of India is highly polluted and dying. Pollution, over-extraction of water, emaciated tributaries, and climate changes are killing the mighty river, on whose fertile plains live one in twelve people of the earth. The Ganga basin makes up almost a third of India’s land area and its rich soil is home to millions of people.

However, indiscriminate extraction of water with modern tube wells from the rivers as well as its basin, coupled with the damming of its tributaries for irrigation, have seriously reduced its flow. Climate change has added to the threat. According to the WWF program Director, Sejal Worah; ”Glaciers account for 30-40% of water in the Ganga and this goes up to 70-80% in the case of Indus. Studies are required to gauge the impact of melting glaciers on the flow.”

Apart from humans, many other kinds of lives are in danger due to Ganga’s degeneration. The river is home to more than 140 fish species, 90 amphibian species, and the endangered Ganga river Dolphin. The Ganga is, of course, sacred to people of India. The maintenance of this sacred river is imperative from socio-cultural and ecological point of view. The central government has prepared a blue-print for a waterways from Varanasi to Kolkata. This is an ambitious plan to develop the Ganga as a major waterways for transport tourism. The government decided to make the river stretch between Varanasi and Hugli navigation for boats, while beautifying the major banks and constructing eleven multipurpose terminals, including one at Patna, along the way. The Minister of water Resources, Tourism, Environment, power and Shipping will pool in their resources to implement the audacious plan.

According to the Central Pollution Board, the Ganga is one of the most polluted rivers of the world. The water at Haridwar District fails almost all parameters of safety. According to official sources, nearly one lakh devotees bath at over 20 Ghats of Haridwar everyday. The biological oxygen demand (BOD) is already 6.4mg per liter in the river water instead of 3mg per liter which is normal and safe for bathing.

In India rivers are highly revered, but with rapid industrialization and urbanization, rivers have increasingly become depositories of urban waste industrial effluents. The Ganga Action Plan (GAP) has seen more than Rs.1800 crore spent. The ‘Namami Ganga Programme’ is an integrated programme, approved by the Union government in june 2014 with a budget of Rs.20,000 crores to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation rejuvenation of river Ganga.

The main points of the Namami Ganga Programme are:- sewerage treatment infrastructure, river front development, river surface cleaning, bio-diversity, afforestation, public awareness, industrial effluence monitoring, Ganga gram

A society named as ‘National Mission for Clean Ganga'(NMCG) was established on 12 August 2011. It has the authority of approving projects up to Rs. 1000 crores. The director general(DG) of NMCG is an additional secretary in the Government of India.

Tributaries of Ganga River

The Yamuna River

This is the longest (1380 km) and the western most tributary of the Ganga. Its source lies in the Yamunotri Glacier on the western slopes of Banderpunch (6316m). Downwards, it is joined by Tons river behind the Mussoorie Range (Uttarakhand). From the Mussoorie Range, it debouches into the plains where it flows in a broad curve. Making a boundary between Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, it passes Delhi, Mathura, Agra and flows southward until it joins the Ganga at Allahabad. The important tributaries of the Yamuna are mostly the right bank tributaries, originating from the Aravallis(Rajasthan), Vindhyan Range, and the Malwa Plateau of Madhya Pradesh. The Chambal, Sind, Betwa, Ken and Tons are the main righthand tributaries of the Yamuna River. It is believed that during the Vedic period, the river Yamuna might have flowed towards south and southwest through Bikaner in Rajasthan and shared its water with the legendary River Saraswati.

The Chambal

The Chambal River of length 960 km rises near Mhow Cantt,- south-west of Indore in Malwa Plateau from the Vindhyan Range- and flows towards the north in a gorge upto the city of Kota. Below Kota, it turns to the north-east, and after passing Bundi, Sawai-Madhopur, and Dholpur, it finally joins the Yamuna about 40 km to the west of Etawah. The Banas River, rising from the Aravalli Range is its main left bank tributaries of Chambal. The Chambal River is famous for its extensive ravines which it has carved all along in the Lower Chambal Valley. The ravines of the Chambal Basin are atrributed to a slight uplift during the recent geological times, and they merge into the Yamuna alluvial plain where the landscape is extensively etched out by other tributaries of the Yamuna to the east and west of Chambal. Multipurpose projects have been constructed across the river. The main dams across the river are Gandhi Sagar, Rana Pratap Sagarand Jawahar Sagar.

The Ramganga

This is a comparatively small river which rises in the Kumaun Himalayas. The river is deflected to the south-west by the Shivalik, which it cuts through, before emerging at the Ganga Plain in Najibabad. It joins the River Ganga in Hardoi district opposite to Kannauj.

The Sharda

This river originates from the Greater Himalaya at kalapani (3600m) near the Lipu-lekh pass,in the pithorgarh district of Uttarakhand. The river is known as the Chauka before it joins the right bank of Ghagra near Barabanki. This river originates from the Greater Himalaya, at Kalapani (3600m) near the Lipu-Lekh, pass in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. The river is a potential for the hydroelectric generation. In 1995, the proposal of ‘The Pancheshwar Dam’ as a joint venture between India and Nepal was made for irrigation and power generation. The Tanakpur Hydroelectric Power was commissioned by NHPC in April 1993, in the district of Champawat.

The Gomti

It is a tributary of the river Saryu. It has its origin in the higher region near Mainkot from a lake ‘Fulhar lake’ Madho Tanda, east of pilibhit in Uttarakhand. The flows through the districts of Sitapur, Lucknow, Barabanki, Sultanpur, and Jaunpur before meeting river Ganga at Kaithi, Ghazipur district. The Gomti valley is also known as ‘katyur valley’ and makes the major agricultural region of Kumaun. The surface area is flat, sloping towards south and southeast. It is a perennial rivers. Its drainage area is 30,437 sq km. Sai river is its major tributary. The river is however getting affected by the pollution assault from Sitapur to Sultanpur, as it meanders through industries belt of sugar processing, a paper and plywood industries.

The Karnali

The Karnali is known as Kauriala in the Nepal Himalayas and as Ghagra in the Ganga Plain. The Karnali is an antecedent river originating from the Gurla Mandhata Peak (7720 m) of the Nepal Himalayas. Before making a gorge in the Greater Himalayas, the Karnali river traverses a 160 km long tract in the Trans-Himalayan region. This river cuts through the Mahabharata Range in the western part of Nepal through a deep gorge. In the plains, it is joined by the Sarda river and acquires the name Ghagra meaning rattling or lahnga. Passing through Ayodhya and Faizabad towns, it joins river Ganga at Chapra near Ballia town. Ghagra is a large river with its vagaries of shifting course.

The Gandak

Draining the central parts of Nepal, Gandak river rises in the Nepal Himalayas between Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Mt. Everest. It enters the Great Plains of India in Champaran District of Bihar, and turning south-east, it joins the Ganga river at Sonpur opposite the city of Patna. This river also changes its course frequently.

The Kosi

The Kosi is also an antecedent river. It is often referred to as the ”Sorrow of Bihar”. Arun is its main stream which originates from the northern slopes of Mt. Everest in Tibet(China). After piercing the Greater Himalayas in Nepal, it is joined by the Sun-Kosi from the west and the Tamur-Kosi from the east. Both these rivers run for a fairly long distance parallel to, and north of, the Mahabharata Range and join River Arun to form the Sapt-Kosi. This river cuts across the Mahabharata Range and the Shiwalik Hills, and emerges into the Bihar Plains near Chatra in Saharsa District. In Bihar Plains, it splits into numerous capricious channels. It is known that about 200 years ago, the Kosi used to flow by the side of purnea town, but now by its westward migration it is about 160 km to the west of Purnea. In July, 2008 the Kosi River shifted its course towards east by more than 100 km. The devastating flood was declared as a national calamity. The Kosi river joins the Ganga River 30 km west of Manihari. It has however, been tamed since 1962 by the construction of embankments on its two banks.

The Tista

This is the westward right bank tributary of the Brahmaputra. Rising from Kanchenjunga, it is a wils mountain torrent in the Darjeeling Hills with a number of tributaries likes the Rangpo, Rangit, and Sevak. Situated on its bank, the Jalpaiguri town, was completely swept away in the flood of 1968. At present, river Tista joins the Brahmaputra river in Bangladesh. It shifted its course substantially in the flash flood of 1787, prior to which it is used to make a confluence with the Ganga.

The Mahananda River

The river rises in the Darjeeling Hills of West Bengal. Near Siliguri, it merges into the duars (Bhabar) of West Bengal. Making sharp curves, it joins the Ganga river. This is the last north bank tributary of the Ganga.

Ken River

Originating for the Malwa Plateau, Ken passes through Panna District (MP), where it makes a gorge at Gangau. It joins the Yamuna river in Banda District of UP. Sonar and Bewar are its main tributaries.

The Son River

This is a large south bank tributary of the Ganga River of length 780 km and basin area of 54,000 sq km.It originates from the Amarkantak Plateau not far from the source of Narmada. It leaves the plateau in a series of waterfalls and meets the Kaimur Range which turns its course towards the north-east and allows it to follow a strike valley. Below Garwa, it enters the Ganga plain, where it widens upto about 5 km, and finally flows into the Ganga at Bankipora near Aara to the West of Patna. During the rainy season, the river often flows in spate with an annual peak discharge of about 750,000 cusecs in the rainy season, while in the dry season it has little water

The Damodar River

The Damodar drains the eastern parts of the Chotanagpur Plateau. This river runs from west to east and, in the narrow bottleneck at Asansol, it emerges on the deltaic plains of Bengal. Barakar is the largest feeder of the Damodar river which meets the main river above Asansol. Below Bardhaman (Burdwan), the river makes a right-angled bend and meets the Hughli river of Falta to the north of Kolkata

Smart Ganga City Scheme

Government of India launched Smart Ganga City Scheme on August 13, 2016 in ten important cities located along Ganga to set up infrastructure for sewage treatement in first phase. The cities identified under the scheme are Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mathura-Vrindavan, Varanasi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Patna, Sahibgunj and Barrackpore. This Scheme is based upon Hybrid Annuity Mode under PPP model. The programme is completely centrally sponsored and District Level Monitoring Committees are constituted to moniter the speedy implementation of the Namami Ganga Programme.

Ganga Smart City Project

Upper Ganga Region :- Gomukh-Haridwar (294 km)

Middle Ganga Region :- Haridwar-Varanasi (1,082 km)

Lower Ganga Region :- Varanasi-Kolkata (1,134 km)

Namami Ganga Project

Namami Ganga Project is an integrated Conservation Mission approved as Flagship Programme by the union Goverment in June 2014 with budget outlay of Rs. 20,000 crore. The twin objectives are effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of the Ganga. The main pillars of the Namami Gange Programme are sewerage treatment infrastructure, river front development river surface cleaning, biodiversity, afforestation, public awareness, industrial effluent monitoring and Ganga Gram. Ministry of Water Resources, Development and Ganga Rejuvenation is the nodal agency. The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is implementation wing.

Madhav Chitale Committee

Union Minisry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation on 22 July 2016 constituted a four member committee to prepare guidelines for desiltation of river Ganga. Madhav Chitale an expert member of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) has been appointed as the Chairman of the committee

Recommendation

Creation of sand registry for de-silting of the Ganga. Establishment of a technical institute to conduct the sediment budget. Establishment of an institute for flood routing studies. Recommends good agriculture practices, river bank anti-erosion works and reclamation of adjoining lakes along the river. De-silting of adjoining lakes to increase their storage capacities. Dredging of shoals in the Farakka Barrage and usage of such sediments for re-grading the Farrakka Feedre Canal.