Centre to start Ganga surface cleaning in January 2016

Centre will start the surface cleaning of Ganga river in January, 2016. Initially, removal of solid waste will be undertaken including dead body parts and clothes. Shashi Shekhar, Secretary, Water Resources Ministry, said, “The entire cleaning procedure has been divided into four phases, beginning with surface cleaning, which would resume from January, 2016. We will start with basic activities to clean the holy river, and some visible impact can be realized by the end of the year 2016. The surface cleaning project will be executed by public sector undertakings (PSU) as tenders have received cold response.”

Other activities will consist of modernization of crematoria, repairing ghats, and recycling of sewage waterdischarging into the river. According to the surveys, currently 10,000 to 50,000 litres of sewage is flowing in to the river per day from the villages along the stretch of Ganga in Kanpur, Alllahabad, and Varanasi regions. Centre may also issue an order to treat municipal sewage on PPP basis for ensuring better execution of the projects.

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