Thursday, March 21, 2019


Ganga Rejuvenation under Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Water Resources
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There is a general perception that nothing significant is being done under Namami Gange Programme but this is not correct. 251 Gross Polluting Industries (GPI) have been closed and closure directions have been issued to other non-complying GPIs. Real-time monitoring of pollution is being done in 938 industries. 211 main ‘Nallas’ that are releasing sewage pollution in Ganga have been identified, and 20 modular STPs are being deployed to treat Nalla water.

Regular review meetings with all the states government officials, contractors, consultants are being done and obstacles regarding DPR’s, Tendering Process, finalisation of design, overdue payments to contractors are being resolved for speedy completion of Projects.

Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Sushri Uma Bharti said that virtually all the 4470 villages on the bank of Ganga are now ODF (or Open Defecation Free) and ministry is now working on the strategy of ODF plus. Measures like Solid-Liquid waste management, tree plantation, making villages and towns plastic free and awareness programmes are being adopted.

Sushri Bharti said, “Our Ministry is working on Ganga Gram Project which is based on holistic development of villages situated on the bank of River Ganga with the active participation of villagers. Organic Farming, Water Conservation Project, proper disposal of solid and Liquid waste and renovation of Ponds will be emphasized.”

Namami Gange is an integrated Ganga Conservation Mission at an indicative cost of Rs. 20,000 crore. It approaches Ganga Rejuvenation by consolidating the existing and ongoing efforts and planning for a comprehensive action plan for the future.

Namami Ganga is to be implemented over a period of five years ending on December 2020. A total of 195 projects have been sanctioned for various activities such as sewage infrastructure, ghats and crematoria development, riverfront development, river surface cleaning, institutional development, biodiversity conservation, afforestation, rural sanitation, and public participation.

102 projects out of 195 were sanctioned for the creation of 2369 MLD new sewage treatment plants (STPs), rehabilitation of 887 MLD of existing STPs and laying/rehabilitation of 4722 km sewer network for abatement of pollution in river Ganga and Yamuna. Till date 24 projects have been completed which has created 217 MLD STP capacity, rehabilitated 62 MLD STP capacity and 1879.5 km of sewer network has been laid.

Presently, 45 sewage infrastructure projects are under execution. These projects envisage creating 841 MLD sewage treatment capacities. Another 33 projects are under various stages of tendering. In a paradigm shift in sewage sector in the past one year, works on two STP projects (50 MLD in Varanasi and 82 MLD in Haridwar) have been started under Hybrid Annuity PPP mode (HAM). Other projects sanctioned under HAM are Naini, Jhusi, Phaphamau, Unnao, Shuklaganj, Mathura, Kanpur, Mirzapur, Gazipur and Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh; Digha, Kankarbagh and Bhagalpur in Bihar; Howrah, Bally and Tolly’s Nalla (Kolkata), Kamarhati and Baranagar in West Bengal.

These sewage management projects will take care of the current gap in sewage treatment and will also sustain the sewage treatment for the future.

New initiatives taken by NMCG
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✢ One City One Operator
Focus under Namami Gange programme has been on 10 major towns that contribute 64% of total sewage discharge. Under “One City One Operator” initiative operations of STPs in 7 towns are being integrated and tendered with Hybrid Annuity based projects. Four have already been tendered (Kanpur, Allahabad, Mathura and Kolkata) and three remain (Patna, Howrah-Bally, Bhagalpur).

✢ Performance evaluation of STPs
Evaluation of existing STPs have been completed in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and project engineers have been appointed for Haridwar and Varanasi projects for installing new STPs. New STP projects are also being taken up on tributaries. Besides, annual inspection of STPs is being done by technical institutions in a time-bound manner along with close monitoring.

✢ River Front Development
Works at 152 ghats and 54 crematoria are in progress and expected to be completed by 2018 at an estimated cost of Rs. 683.32 crore. Patna River Front Development project worth Rs 254.52 crore is at an advanced stage of completion (more than 85% work done). Under this, 20 ghats and 6.6 km of promenade are being developed among other services that include toilets, bathrooms, changing rooms etc. Pathri ghat in Patna which was developed under Namami Gange programme won 2A Asia Architecture Award 2016. One project of RFD at Chandi ghat in Haridwar involving a cost of about Rs. 50 crore is 68% complete.

✢ Surface trash skimmers
11 skimmers have been deployed at Haridwar, Garh Mukhteshwar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Patna, Sahibganj, Nabadwip, Howrah, Delhi and Mathura-Vrindavan.

✢ Water Quality Monitoring Station
44 Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring Station (RTWQMS) are operational to keep water quality check. As for the abatement of industrial pollution, a survey of all 938 Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) was conducted. Out of 938 GPIs, 251 were closed and closure notices were given to other non-complying GPIs.

✢ Plantation of trees
Afforestation drive involves planting 50m trees along the Ganga basin at cost of Rs. 112 crores and is intended for preventing erosion of soil and groundwater recharge in the Ganga basin. Afforestation campaign with public participation has been taken up.

✢ Wildlife conservation
A comprehensive bio-diversity conservation programme is being undertaken through Wildlife Institute of India involving a cost of Rs. 25 crores.

✢ Raising manpower
Composite Ecological Taskforce has been instituted involving three companies of 100 men, drawn from Territorial Army with headquarters at Allahabad. They would be taking up plantations, public awareness, patrolling of riverfronts and monitoring of river pollution.

✢ Village sanitation
All 4465 villages on the bank of river Ganga have been made ODF which involved the construction of 10,83,688 Individual Household Toilets. Effective monitoring will be done by various state and district level committees.
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