The News Minute | March 17, 2015 | 12:00 pm IST
The Centre has approved a plan to raise three Territorial Army (TA) battalions, including trained engineers, environmentalists and scientist, in an attempt to facilitate the process of cleaning the Ganga, a report in The Pioneer newspaper states.
Each battalion will consist of 1,000 personnel, who will be trained by the Army, and they will work under the direction of the Ministry of Water Resources.
In the first phase, the battalions will clean the banks of the Ganga in specific zones and will also work towards water desalination, purification, afforestation, along with helping agencies in soil treatment along the river bank so that the land can be used for agricultural purposes, the report states.
Funds and equipments for the project will be provided by the Ministry.
Though the government has approved the plan to raise the battalions, the defence and water ministries will first have to work on the framework of the project. The battalions are expected to start functioning in the next six months.
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