new delhi a new jal shakti ministry in which the erstwhile ministries of water resources and drinking water and sanitation will be merged has been formed with gajendra singh shekhawat at its helmshekhawat took charge of the ministry on friday a day after he was sworn in as minister during the election campaign modi had promised to form an integrated ministry dealing with water issuesall the water related works will be merged under one ministry shekhawat said after taking the chargethe ambit of the ministry will encompass issues ranging from international and interstates water disputes the byzantine namami gange project the flagship initiative to clean the ganges its tributaries and subtributaries and provide clean drinking waterin the first modi government the project to clean ganga was moved from the ministry of environment and forests to the ministry of water resources with a greater push and much larger monetary allocation the namami gange project was launchedthe minister said as promised in the party manifesto the priority will be to provide clean drinking water to everyonerebutting the charge that nothing was done under the namami gange project shekhawat said the ganga river has been cleaned to a large extent and now the priority will be to clean its tributaries and subtributariesrattan lal kataria will be the minister of state in the newly formed ministry