Distinguished Lecture: Pollution Management for the Ganga River

March 31, 2016

Dr. Kalyan Rudra, Chairman, West Bengal Pollution Control Board, gave a Distinguished Lecture titled: “Rediscovering the Ganga: the Issues of Pollution Management” on March 31, 2016 at Nalanda University.

Dr. Kalyan Rudra discussed at length the decaying state of river Ganga due to pollution and other human activities. He also talked about various measures taken so far to improve the water quality of the river including the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) which was launched in 1985. Dr. Rudra shared different statistics related to Ganga pollution management. He also mentioned the project undertaken by an expert committee formed with the collaboration of seven IITs for restoration of aviral (uninterrupted) and nirmal dhara (non-polluted) in the Ganga. However, according to Dr. Rudra, these efforts are not yet sufficient. In his conclusion, he emphasized that recovering the quality of the river in all regards should be a people’s programme, in fact an initiative of collective responsibility.

Bio-profile of Dr. Kalyan Rudra

Dr. Rudra is presently Chairman of West Bengal Pollution Control Board and also member of the Central Pollution Control Board. He is a Geographer by academic training having specialization in river and water management. He took a break from his protracted teaching carrier in 2007 and joined in a research project of West Bengal Pollution Control Board. He worked as the Project Director in two projects of WBPCB – one on water resource and its quality and other on dynamic river system of West Bengal. He has been the expert-member in the committee constituted by the apex court of the State for cleaning the Ganga since 2005. Dr. Rudra was a member of the National Flood Management Core Group and headed the committee constituted to advise the Government of West Bengal on the issue of Indo-Bangladesh sharing of Teesta water. He has written five books and many research papers which have been published in reputed journals of India and abroad. Dr. Rudra is also advisor to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. He loves to trek in the Himalaya and capture the scenes through the lens.