“We hope to clean 70 to 80
percent Ganga by March 2019. It 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 non
complying GPIs”. This was stated by Union Minister for Water Resources, River
Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shri Nitin Gadkari while addressing a press
conference in New Delhi today. The Press conference was also linked to Patna,
Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur through video. The Minister said, real time
monitoring of pollutions is being done in 938 industries. 211 main ‘Nallas’
have been identified which are causing pollution in Ganga 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, Payment
to contractors are being removed for speedy completion of Projects.
Addressing the press
conference Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Sushri Uma Bharti
said that almost all the 4470 villages on the bank of Ganga are now Open
Defecation Free (ODF) and now we are working on the strategy of ODF plus. She
said 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 Gran Project which is
based on holistic development of villages situated on the bank of River Ganga
with active participation of villages. Organic Farming, Water Conservation
Project, proper disposal of solid and Liquid waste and renovation of Ponds will
be emphasized in Ganga Grams”.
Namami Gange an
integrated Ganga Conservation Mission is an umbrella programme with the aim to
integrate previous, currently ongoing and new projects planned as part of the
programme at an indicative cost of Rs. 20,000 crore. The programme is to be
implemented over a period of five years ending on December 2020. ‘Namami Gange’
approaches Ganga Rejuvenation by consolidating the existing and ongoing efforts
and planning for a comprehensive action plan for future.
Under Namami Gange
programme, a total of 195 projects have been sanctioned for various activities
such as sewage Infrastructure, ghats and crematoria development, river front
development, river surface cleaning, institutional development, biodiversity
conservation, afforestation, rural sanitation, and public participation.
102 projects out of
195 were sanctioned for 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 future.
Initiatives taken by NMCG
Among some of the new
initiatives that have been taken by National Mission for Clean Ganga are “One
City One Operator” as part of which STPs in 7 towns (Kanpur, Allahabad,
Mathura, Patna, Kolkata, Howrah-Bally, Bhagalpur) are being integrated and
tendered with Hybrid Annuity based projects. Four have already been tendered
(Kanpur, Allahabad, Mathura and Kolkata. The focus under Namami Gange programme
has been on 10 major towns contributing almost 64% of total sewage discharge.
Apart from that performance evaluation of existing STPs have been completed in
Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and project engineers for Haridwar and
Varanasi projects have been appointed. Besides, annual inspection of GPIs
through technical institutions in a time bound manner along with close
monitoring of milestones is being done. New projects are being taken up on
tributaries.
For 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
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.
44 Real Time Water
Quality Monitoring Station (RTWQMS) are operational under Namami Gange
programme to keep water quality check. As abatement of industrial pollution
which has been a prime focus of National Mission for Clean Ganga, survey of all
938 Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) was conducted. Out of 938 GPIs, 251
were closed and closure notices were given to non-complying GPIs.
11 trash skimmers
have been deployed at Haridwar, Garh Mukhteshwar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad,
Patna, Sahibganj, Nabadwip, Howrah, Delhi and Mathura-Vrindavan.
On rural sanitation
front, all 4465 villages on the bank of river Ganga have been made Open
Defecation Free (ODF) and 10,83,688 Individual Household Toilets have been
constructed. Five State Ganga Committees and 48 District Ganga Committees on
main stem of River Ganga, constituted for effective monitoring of projects and
activities.
Five crore plants are
being planted along Ganga basin as part of the afforestation drive involving an
amount of Rs. 112 crores intended for preventing erosion of soil and
groundwater recharge in the Ganga basin. A comprehensive bio-diversity
conservation programme is being undertaken through Wildlife Institute of India
involving a cost of Rs. 25 crore. Afforestation campaign with public
participation has been taken up.
A Composite
Ecological Task Force with headquarters at Allahabad and three companies of 100
men each is being raised with Territorial Army. They would be taking up
plantation, public awareness, patrolling of river fronts and monitoring of
river pollution.
In Uttarakhand,
31 projects have been sanctioned out of which 13 have been completed and in 18
work is under progress. The projects in Kirtinagar, Tapovan, Uttarkashi,
Rishikesh are likely
to be completed by June 2018, projects in Joshimath, Srinagar, Haridwar network
by Nov 2018 and projects in Badrinath, Chamoli, Nandprayag, Rudraprayag,
Karnprayag, Haridwar (Interception and Diversion work) by December 2018.
In Uttar Pradesh,
30 projects have been sanctioned out of which eight have been completed and
work is under progress on nie projects. Three tenders are under evaluation and
10 under tendering. The completed projects include projects in Allahabad
(completed in year four 2015, 2016) and four projects (Garhmukteshwar, Kannauj,
Anupshahar and Narora) in April 2018. The projects which are likely to be
completed are [Allahabad Dist C and Dist E (Additional) by May 2018, Moradabad
by June 2018, Varanasi (JICA- Dinapur) by July 2018, Kanpur (Sismau nala),
Allahabad Dist A by October 2018 Allahabad Dist B and Varanasi (Ramana) by
December 2019. Tenders are under evaluation for Chunar and Mathura. The
projects under tendering are Bithoor, Ramnagar, Unnao, Shuklaganj, Kanpur
(Pankha), Allahabad (Jhusi, Naini, and Phaphamau), Farrukhabad, Mirzapur,
Ghazipur, rehabilitation of existing STPs in Allahabad
In Bihar, 20
projects have been sanctioned out of which work is under progress on 10
projects while four are under evaluation and six under tendering. The locations
where work is under progress are Buxar and in various zones of Patna. In Barh,
Sultanganj, Mokama,
Naugachia tenders have been
received and evaluation is in process whereas tenders are to be floated for
Bhagalpur, Digha and Kankarbagh zones of Patna.
In Jharkhand,
two projects are under progress in Sahibganj where a 12 MLD STP, 55 km Sewer
are being constructed. The project is likely to be completed by December 2018.
Another project in Rajmahal of creation of 3.5 MLD STP, 34 km sewer has
recently been awarded and likely to be completed by June 2019.
In West Bengal,
there are 15 projects that have been sanctioned out of which two have been
completed; work is under progress on four projects while four others are under
tendering. For five projects tenders have to be floated.
Click below for Presentation on Namami Gange Programme
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NP/SKP/MS/IA
