Mission Clean Ganga Project gets 2,600 crore grant from Government of India

Mission Clean Ganga project, a project intended for cleaning Ganga and making the Gangajal free from pollution, has got 2,600 crore rupees of grant from Government of India.

As per Hindustan Times

Projects worth Rs. 2,600 crore have been sanctioned by the government to ensure that by 2020, no untreated sewage and industrial effluent flow into the Ganga river, the Lok Sabha on Monday told. The projects will be implemented and supervised by National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) which has been set up the government to ensure effective abatement of pollution and conservation of Ganga by adopting a holistic approach.

In a written reply, environment and forest minister Jayanthi Natarajan said, “The NGRBA has decided that under Mission Clean Ganga it will be ensured that by 2020 no untreated municipal sewage and industrial effluent flow into Ganga.”

Projects amounting to nearly Rs. 2600 crore have been sanctioned so far under the NGRBA for development of sewer networks, sewage treatment plant, electric crematoria, community toilets and development of river fronts in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

“A World Bank-assisted project to be implemented over a period of eight years at an estimated cost of Rs. 7000 crore has also been approved for conservation and restoration of water quality of the river Ganga,” Natarajan said.

Replying to a question on efforts to check pollution in Yamuna river, she said an expenditure of Rs. 711.05 crore has been incurred under the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) till date.

“YAP-II was approved in 2003 at an estimated cost of Rs. 624 crore with major items of works such as rehabilitation of sewerage network and sewerage treatment plants,” she said.

Observing that Yamuna has not shown the desired improvement due to gap between generation and treatment of sewage as also the lack of availability of fresh water in the river during the lean period, she said the pollution in the river is also because of bathing ghats, open defecation and run off from catchment areas.