The Union government has decided to declare the Ganga as 'national river' of India. The Govt. will set up a high power Ganga River Basin Authority, which will be entrusted with the responsibility of planning, implementing and monitoring projects regarding the river.

PM Dr. Manmohan Singh will head the committee. Chief Ministers of states through which the Ganga flows will be taken as its members.

The Authority will promote inter-sectoral coordination for comprehensive planning.

This was decided in a meeting presided by the Prime Minister.

"It was decided that there is a need to replace the current piecemeal efforts taken up in a fragmented manner in select cities with an integrated approach that sees the river as an ecological entity and addresses issues of quantity in terms of water flows along with issues of quality," said the PMO.