Exclusive - India's Ganges clean-up in a shambles, Modi intervenes

A boy crosses a drain on the banks of the river Ganges in Kanpur, India, April 4, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

NEW DELHI/KANPUR, India (Reuters) - India's $3 billion plan to clean the holy Ganges river is badly behind schedule with large stretches contaminated by toxic waste and sewage, forcing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene, according to government officials and documents seen by Reuters.

Much of the money allocated to the project, a flagship initiative for Modi's Hindu nationalist government, remains unspent, say officials from the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), a government body overseeing the project.