The government will carry out a comprehensive census of endangered Gangetic dolphins, ghariyals and turtles across the entire Ganges river system to get their official count for the first time.
The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) will carry out the exercise through Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII), an autonomous institution under Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, by February-end or early March.
The study, to be carried out by NMCG under the Centre’s ambitious Namami Gange programme, is crucial because populace of the freshwater animals reflect quality of the river water (more the populace, better the water quality).
