Question : Existence of Saraswati River

a) whether the Government proposes to set up an expert panel to find and know about existence of the Saraswati river along with identification of sites for research and development; and

(b) if so, the details and the composition thereof?

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION (PROF. SANWAR LAL JAT)

(a) & (b) No, Madam. The Ministry of culture has, however, constituted the Advisory Committee on 16.09.2015 for the Multidisciplinary Study of the Saraswati basin for a period of two years. The Composition of the Committee is at Annexure.

*****





Annexure
Annexure referred to in reply to Parts (a) & (b) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.861 for answer on 03.12.2015 regarding “Existence of Saraswati River”
The composition of the Advisory Committee for the Multidisciplinary Study of the River Saraswati is as follows:
1. Minister of Culture Member
2. Secretary (Culture) Member
3. Secretary (Tourism) Member
4. Director General, Archeological survey of India(ASI) Member
5. Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture Member
6. Representative of Ministry of Water Resources Member
7. Representative of Ministry of Space/ISRO Member
8. Representative of ONGC Member
9. Representative of Ministry of Environment and Forest Member
10. Representative of Ministry of Urban Development Member
11. Shri Y.S. Rawat Director of Archeological (Retd) Member
(Representative of) Govt. of Gujarat
12. Chief Engineer , Inter State and Coordination Member
(Representative of Rajasthan)
13. Additional Chief Secretary (Culture/Archaeology Member
Representative of Govt. of Haryana)
14. Director (EE) Archeological survey of India Member Secretary

Non Official Members
15. Prof B.B. Lal, New Delhi Member
16. Shri Darshan Lal Jain Haryana Member
17. Shri K.N. Dikshit, New Delhi Member
18. Dr. VMK Puri, Himachal Pradesh Member
19. Shri Prashant Bharadwaj, Haryana Member
20. Dr. Amit Jain, New Delhi Member
21. Shri Bal Mukund, New Delhi Member
22. Dr. K.S. Vaidiya, Bangalore Member
23. Dr. A.R. Chaudhri, Haryana Member
24. Dr. S. Kalyanraman, Chennai Member


******