An aerial survey of the Ganga river in Bihar on Saturday brought Union water resources minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar closer to the alarming severity of the siltation and pollution in the river and need for more urgent remedies. “I saw it (growing siltation) a very serious issue and we must take urgent measures soon to save the Ganga and reduce the constant threat of floods,” said Mr Bansal, whose survey of the river was in response to Mr Kumar’s request on April 17 for a personal familiarisation with the crisis. Along with Mr Kumar and Bihar water resources minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Mr Bansal had the aerial survey of over 500 km of the river from Chausa in Buxar district to Farakka Barrage in Bhagalpur. Growing industrial and urban pollution, constant siltation and natural erosion of banks are the foremost causes behind the holy river’s sad fate.