The State Government formed the Maharashtra State River Rejuvenation Authority (MSRRA), headed by the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently. The main objective behind forming the Authority was to restore all the 54 heavily polluted river stretches across the State. The State recently issued the Government Resolution (GR) regarding the formation of MSRRA.

 

This independent body will tackle industrial pollution, sewage discharge, solid waste dumping, and illegal sand mining using an initial funding corpus of roughly Rs 2,000 crore. The Chief Minister will be the chairperson of MSRRA whereas Minister of Environment will be the Deputy Chairperson. Both Deputy Chief Ministers, Revenue Minister, Water Resource Minister, Industry Minister, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister (All Members), and Principal Secretary, Ministry of Environment, have been appointed as Member Secretary of the Authority. According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), there are 54 polluted river stretches in Maharashtra of which eight river stretches are in Vidarbha itself.

 

As per the CPCB data, Kolar, Kanhan (both in Nagpur district), Wardha, Wainganga (both in Chandrapur district), Wena (Wardha), Penganga (Yavatmal), Morna (Akola) and Pedhi River (Amravati) are the polluted river stretches which need to be monitored. The Authority will focus on reducing river pollution and restoring the natural flow of these water bodies in Vidarbha as well as in the entire State. A State-level executive committee headed by the Environment Minister was also formed by the Government, and it included technical experts, legal and financial advisors, representatives from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), and specialists from premier institutions. MSRRA will be the nodal institution and it has the power to take all decisions regarding water pollution in the State. The authority will prepare and approve detailed project reports (DPRs), manage river basin development plans, resolve issues related to encroachments, power supply, and land acquisition, and recommend projects under national schemes. A dedicated secretariat headed by the member secretary of the MPCB will be established for the day-to-day operations of the authority.