Japan offers loan to clean up India's Ganges river

AFP, May, 2006

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India has sought a multi-million-dollar loan from Japan to clean up the Ganges, its holiest river which is clogged with waste and remains of cremated bodies, a minister told parliament.

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has agreed to hand out five billion rupees (111 million dollars) to clean up the Ganges at the Hindu pilgrimage town of Varanasi, junior environment minister Namo Narayan said.

The clean-up involves the construction of a modern sewage treatment plant and revamp of drains and riverside baths used by hundreds of thousands of Hindus during ...