Government ropes in 8 ministries for better coordination to clean up Ganga.

In pursuing the gigantic task of Ganga cleaning, the Union water resources ministry has signed a joint memorandum of understanding (MoU) with seven ministries to carry forward multi-sectoral activities for minimum three years to rejuvenate the river. The HRD ministry and Ministries of shipping, tourism, drinking water and rural development are the parties to the MoU.

Some previous efforts to clean up the humungous water resource include:

The Ganga Action Plan or GAP was a program launched in January 1985 by the then Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi, to reduce the pollution load on the river. But the efforts to decrease the pollution level in the river were unsuccessful.

National River Ganga Basin Authority (NRGBA), was established by the Central Government of India, on 20^th February 2009 under Section 3 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. It declared the Ganga as the "National River" of India. In 2011, the World Bank "approved $1 billion in funding for the National Ganga River Basin Authority."

In the budget tabled in Parliament on 10^th July 2014, the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced an integrated Ganga development project titled 'Namami Ganga' and allocated Rs.2,037 crore for this purpose.

As a part of the program, government of India ordered the shut down of 48 industrial units around Ganga.