Under Namami Gange Programme, in the Ganga basin, a total of 195 sewerage infrastructure projects have been taken up with a cost of ₹ 31,344.13 crore for creation & rehabilitation of 6,173.12 Million Litres per Day (MLD) of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) capacity. At present, 109 sewerage projects have been completed resulting in already creation & rehabilitation of 2,664.05 MLD of STP capacity. National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) targets to sanction a cumulative treatment capacity of 7,000 MLD by December 2026.

The State Pollution Control Boards of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal have estimated that a total 11,764.5 MLD of sewage is being generated in the Ganga Main Stem states. To address this 6,498.25 MLD of sewage treatment capacity (1,777.33 MLD by NMCG and 4,720.92 MLD by state and other government agencies) has already been installed. Further, 2,004.87 MLD is under construction (1,594.71 MLD under NMCG and 410.16 MLD by state and other government agencies) 1,965.55 MLD is under tendering (1,339.98 under NMCG and 625.57 MLD by state and other government agencies). And the remaining gap of 1,625.50 MLD will be required and construction of that is to be initiated by the different state governments. The State-wise Sewage treatment details is enclosed at Annexure.

As far as the Ganga front towns are concerned, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has estimated sewage generation of 3,558 MLD from the 110 Ganga front towns in 5 Ganga main stem states (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal). With the interventions taken up under Namami Gange programme, at present the total treatment capacity along the towns located along main stem of river Ganga increased to 2589 MLD. In addition, approximately 910 MLD sewage is treated through East Kolkata Wetland. Apart from the above, projects for developing 1104 MLD STP capacity in the towns along river Ganga main stem have been taken up which are at different stages of implementation.

Initially some of the projects faced delays during the implementation of infrastructure and sewerage projects, including delays in getting land for STP construction, obtaining permissions for road cutting, NoCs from competent authorities like forest, revenue departments, frequent changes of sites allotted, incidence of COVID-19 pandemic and occurrences of abnormal floods etc. However, necessary steps have been taken to address these issues and ensure the timely completion of projects. In the year 2022 (January–December), 26 sewerage projects were completed creating additional sewage treatment capacity of approx. 1200 MLD compared to 993 MLD from 2014-21. In the year 2023 (January–October), 10 sewerage projects were completed with additional sewage treatment capacity of approx. 621 MLD.

Under Namami Gange Programme, so far, a total of 450 projects have been taken up at an estimated cost of ₹ 38,022.37 Crore, out of which 270 projects have been completed and made operational. Out of these 450 project, 195 sewerage infrastructure projects have been taken up, out of which, 109 projects have already been completed resulting in creation & rehabilitation of 2,664.05 MLD of STP capacity and laying of 4,465.54 km sewerage network. Since 2014-15 to 31^st October 2023 government of India released 16,011.65 crore and NMCG disbursed/released 15,015.26 crore to state governments, executing agencies and other institutions.

Based on the water quality assessment by Central Pollution Control Board(CPCB) in 5 Ganga main stem states in 2023 (January to September), the observed water quality indicates that median value of Dissolved Oxygen which is an indicator of river health has been found to be within acceptable limits of notified primary bathing water quality criteria and satisfactory to support the ecosystem of river for almost entire stretch of river Ganga. The median value of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) has been found within the acceptable limits except marginal exceedance (BOD: 3.2 to 4.5 mg/L) in stretch from (i) Farrukhabad to Dalmau, Rai Bareilly and (ii) downstream (D/s) Mirzapur to Tarighat, Ghazipur (except upstream (U/s) Varanasi, Vishwa Sundari Bridge) in Uttar Pradesh.

Cleaning of river is a continuous process, and the Government of India is supplementing the efforts of the State Governments in addressing the challenges of pollution of river Ganga by providing financial and technical assistance.

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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ANNEXURE

State-wise Sewage treatment details

 

*In Uttarakhand surplus is 62.15 MLD

** In Uttar Pradesh surplus is 260.7 MLD

***In Jharkhand surplus is 6.74 MLD

Data Source: Last Monthly Progress Report received from the concerned States in the NGT Matter OA No. 673 of 2018. Remarks. The data is pertaining for the whole state (all the rivers).

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AS

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