Yes Sir. National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) organises Ganga Utsav in first week of November. The Utsav is held to celebrate 4^th November, the day on which Ganga was declared as the National River. In the year 2021, Ganga Utsav was observed at more than 100 locations in Ganga & Non – Ganga Basin area and more than 75 different types of events were held across the country.

As a part of this celebration, various public connect activities like dialogues, storytelling, cultural programmes, literature festival, painting competition, photo exhibitions, marathons, afforestation activities etc. were organised. Ganga Mashaal Yatra with ‘Meri Ganga Meri Shaan’ Campaign was taken out by Ganga Task Force personnel from Rishikesh to West Bengal touching upon 25 locations in the Ganga Basin ensuring public participation of people in the journey.

The Utsav highlights the significance of ‘People’s Connect’ in the revival of Ganga, with focus on encouraging stakeholder engagement and public participation towards the rejuvenation of river Ganga.

 

The objective of rejuvenating river Ganga is being achieved through National Mission for Clean Ganga. Government of India has approved “Namami Gange” programme for rejuvenation of river Ganga and its tributaries and NMCG is implementing this programme by adopting a river basin approach.

NMCG has taken up a comprehensive set of interventions in the areas of wastewater treatment, solid waste management, river front management (ghats and crematoria development), e-flow, afforestation, biodiversity conservation and Public Participation etc.

 

Under Namami Gange Programme, so far, a total of 364 projects have been sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs 30,853 Cr and 183 projects have been completed and made operational.

 

As against the estimated sewage generation of 2953 Million Liters Per Day (MLD) (year 2016) from towns along Ganga Main Stem, only 1305 MLD STP capacity existed prior to the implementation of the Namami Gange Programme (year 2014) which has now increased to 2407 MLD. In addition, another 934 MLD STP capacity has been sanctioned and is at various stages of implementation.

 

Apart from river Ganga main stem, sewage treatment interventions have also been taken in towns along polluting tributaries of river Ganga. So far 42 projects have been taken up in towns located along river Yamuna, Hindon, Kali (East and West), Ramganga, Saryu, Gomti, Chambal, Rispana-Bindal, Dhela, Kharkai, Son, Kosi, Damodar, Banka and Barakar.

 

For Industrial Pollution abatement, around 2,740 Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) have been inspected out of which 2,124 GPIs are found to be compliant, 128 non-compliant and 488 non-operational. Among the non-complaint, 106 GPIs have been issued notice for closure and 22 GPIs have been issued show cause notice.

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) are working along with National Mission for Clean Ganga for monitoring the river water quality to determine the health of the river. 

Due to various interventions under the Namami Gange Programme since its inception in 2015-16, the river water quality of the various erstwhile polluted stretches has improved. As per CPCB data as on 2021, none of the Ganga Stretches are in priority category I to IV and only two stretches are in Category V. Water Quality Median data for 2021 (January to May), of river Ganga shows that the major indicator- Dissolved Oxygen (DO), has been found to be within acceptable limits for primary bathing quality across all 84 monitoring locations in the main stem of river Ganga. Similarly, other important river health indicators i.e., Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Feacal Coliform (FC) have also been found to be within acceptable limits across 68 monitoring locations (out of 84 locations) and 33 monitoring locations (out of 80 locations) respectively.

The definition of various priority categories is given below:

Priority Category	I	II	III	IV	V
Criteria	BOD  > 30 mg/l	BOD:  20-30 mg/l	BOD: 10-20 mg /l	BOD: 6-10 mg/l	BOD:  3-6 mg / l

 

Cleaning of river is a continuous process and Government of India is supplementing the efforts of the State Government in addressing the challenges of pollution in river Ganga and its tributaries by providing financial and technical assistance under Namami Gange Programme.

 

(c) & (d): The final estimates and funds released  by Government of India and subsequently disbursed/released by National Mission for Clean Ganga  during the last three financial years i.e. FY 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and  for the financial year 2021-22 till 31 January 2022 are tabulated below:-

 

Financial Year	Final  Estimates	Releases by Government of India	Disbursement/ Expenditure by National Mission for Clean Ganga
	(Rupees in crore)
2018-19	2,370.00	2,307.50	2,626.54
2019-20	1,553.44	1,553.40	2,673.09
2020-21	1,300.00	1,300.00	1,339.97
2021-22*	1,900.00	950.00	1,015.99
Total	7,123.44	6,110.90	7,655.59

 (* up-to 31 January 2022)

 

From the table above, it may be seen that there is no underutilization of funds under Namami Gange Programme.

 

As per the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (refer to as Act), the Court of competent jurisdiction can take cognizance, under Section 19, for the offence against those who fail to comply with or contravenes any of the provisions of the Act or rules or orders or directions issued under the said Act. NMCG itself cannot impose fine, however empowered to file complaint against those who are polluting the river, in accordance with the provision of Section 19 of the above said Act. The offenders are liable for punishment with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees or with both. The complaints against the person polluting the river and water bodies are also being filed by the concerned State Pollution Control Board, constituted under the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.

 

The Government of India has been assessing the working on NMCG through performance audit of NMCG by CAG and through third party evaluation of Namami Gange Program carried out by Administrative Staff College of India in 2020.

 

Performance Audit of NMCG by CAG

 

An Audit Team of Principal Director (Audit), Scientific Department, New Delhi under the C&AG conducted Performance Audit of rejuvenation of river Ganga from 30^thJanuary 2017 till 30^th June 2017 covering the period from 2014-15 to 31.03.2017. The audit was conducted at NMCG headquarter and at the various Central and State Government and other agencies offices, in the five river Ganga basin states. The Report No 39 of 2017 of the C&AG on Rejuvenation of River Ganga (Namami Gange) was presented to Lok Sabha on 19 December 2017. The said report was selected for examination by Public Accounts Committee (2017-18).

 

NMCG has been regularly apprising the Public Account Committee on the various actions taken on the observation points as noted by the CAG.

 

Third Party evaluation of Namami Gange Program by Administrative Staff College of India

A third-party evaluation of Namami Gange Program was carried out in 2020 by Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad covering the programme period from 2014 to 2020 and having a dialogue with multiple institutions, entities, partners and authorities at different levels. ASCI assessed the program on the outputs achieved on various parameters.

The evaluation report recommends that the Namami Gange Program needs horizontal extension to cover tributaries of river Ganga. The report also recommended for extension of the programme for the next 10-year time frame from 2021 to 2030.

The key learnings from the third-party evaluation report have been incorporated as part of the Namami Gange Mission – II (NGM-II).

 

This Information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti Shri Bishweswar Tudu in a written      reply in Lok Sabha today.

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BY/AS

(Release ID: 1807856)