New Delhi: The government informed the Upper House that it proposes to bring in a law for cleaning the Ganga. Discussions on the proposed law are already under way and the draft law has been submitted to the ministry of water resources.

Responding to questions, minister Uma Bharti said various initiatives taken by the government for Ganga cleaning will start showing results in 2018 as promised earlier. “Our ministry proposes to bring a new Ganga Act. Discussions are underway on bringing the new Ganga Act. The Act has been submitted to the (water resources) ministry by a committee headed by Justice Girdhar Malviya and discussions are underway on it. It will be shared with states before,” she added.

Meanwhile, BJP member Baswaraj Patil added that plans for cleaning the Ganga are made in the air and nothing is fructified. He said, “If plans are formulated in the air, then you do not get the desired results.” To this, Ms Bharti replied that cleaning of the Ganga is a gigantic task and it is being done and results will soon start showing by 2018.