Panaji, Jul 17 (IANS): Goa's rivers must be cleaned with the same earnestess with which Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleaned the Ganga, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Wednesday.

"It is necessary to protect rivers. Prime Minister Modi took up the Ganga Rejuvenation project and for the first time the Ganga has been cleaned.

"People used to dip in the Ganga for rejuvenation earlier, but the waters were not clean. Let us clean the rivers like the Ganga by taking Modi's vision ahead," Sawant told the state Legislative Assembly while speaking in favour of the motion to congratulate Governor Mridula Sinha on her address to the lawmakers.

Sawant also said that he would examine a request by former Chief Minister and Congress MLA Luizinho Faleiro to set up a state river authority to prevent pollution of Goa's rivers.

Repeated studies have indicated rising pollution in Goa's rivers, with increasing presence of e-coli and mining silt.