Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting for Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has reviewed the preparation for Surface cleaning of Ganga. The project is expected to begin in January in 10 major cities including Haridwar, Garhmukteshwar, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Sahibganj, Kolkata, Nabadwip and Gangasagar.
Uma Bharti, Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation informed that trial for this project has already begun in Varanasi, which has been assigned to Tata projects Ltd. under corporate social responsibility scheme. The Minister said NTPC, ONGC, and Petronet have expressed their willingness to fund the project. Referring to the progress of sewage treatment under Namami Gange the Minister informed that so far 29 projects have been completed at a cost of Rs463.58 crore with the treatment capacity of 123mld and sewer network of 666.69km. She said a total of 93 projects have been sanctioned at the cost of Rs. 1502.66 crore. This will result in the creation of treatment capacity of 858mld and sewer network of 3623.10km.
Referring to the progress of River Front/Ghat Development projects the Minister informed that development of four ghats out of 20 in Patna has been completed last month. The river front development at Patna has been taken up at cost of Rs243.27 crore and will be over by 2017-18. She said work at Chandighat (Haridwar), Chhath Ghat (Delhi) and Sahibganj will begin next month. The Minister said DPRs for Kedarnath, Allahabad, Kanpur, Kolkata and Rishikesh are under preparation.
Sushri Bharti said rural sanitation is a major challenge to the success of Namami Gange programme. She informed the members that her Ministry has given Rs263 crore to the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation for the construction of toilets in the villages along the river Ganga. However only 3, 24,963 toilets could be constructed against the target of 15,20,106. The Minister said under Ganga Grams scheme complete waste solution will be provided to 200 identified villages in the first phase. After this every year 200 to 300 villages will be taken up under this scheme.
Referring to Effluents Management measures taken up by her Ministry the Minister said Real Time Effluent Monitoring Stations have been installed in 508 out of 764 Grossly Polluting Industries which includes Distillery, Pulp & Paper, Tanneries, Textiles and Sugar. Action plan has been prepared for reduction in effluent quality and volume for Pulp & Paper and Sugar industry with the completion target of March 2017.
The Minister informed the members that 113 new Real-time monitoring stations with display boards at selected location will be set up next year to monitor water quality of river Ganga on hourly basis. These will be in addition to the 57 existing manual monitoring stations. Tenders have already been issued for 36 such stations. The member attending the meeting appreciated the effort the Ministry in the implementation of the Namami Gange and promised their full support both inside and outside the parliament.