India, March 6 -- Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday criticised the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government for not fully utilising the allocated budget for Namami Gange project adding that key targets of the mission remain pending.

"Modi Ji said that "Mother Ganga has called" him but the truth is that he has "forgotten" his guarantee of cleaning Ganga! Nearly 11 years ago, in 2014, the Namami Gange scheme was launched. In the Namami Gange scheme, a fund of Rs.42,500 crore was to be used by March 2026, but the answers to questions given in Parliament show that only Rs.19,271 crore have been spent till December 2024. That is, the Modi government has not spent 55% of the funds of the Namami Gange scheme. Why so m...