Govt To Set Up 'Clean Ganga Fund' To Accept Donations From People

The government has given nod to set up ‘Clean Ganga Fund’ (CGF), which will accept donations from for cleaning Ganga. This will be in addition to what the government had allocated for the ‘Namami Gange’ (Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission) project in the budget for FY2014-15.

Domestic donors will be entitled to avail tax benefits as per the rules. Foreign donors, too, may get tax exemptions wherever applicable. The government will also consider constituting ‘daughter funds’ in other countries such as USA, UK, Singapore and UAE.

"The fund will be managed by a trust to be headed by finance minister. The secretariat of the trust will be set up in the ministry of water resources under the mission director of the Clean Ganga projects. It will be operated through a bank account by the Trust", said an official. The CGF will be used for the steps charted out under the 'Namami Gange' project.

The government had set aside a fund of Rs 2,037 crore for the mission in this financial year. "The fund will be catalytic in nature and will identify and fund specific projects which could be pilot projects, R&D projects, innovative projects or other focused projects. It will define specific and measurable objectives to form the basis for planning, funding, and evaluation," said an official statement.