For conservation and rejuvenation of rivers, this Ministry has been supplementing efforts of the States/Union Territories (UTs) by providing financial and technical assistance for abatement of pollution in identified stretches of rivers in the country through the Central Sector Scheme of Namami Gange for Ganga and its tributaries, and the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) for other rivers. Sewerage infrastructure and setting up of sewage treatment plants (STPs) in polluting towns/cities along the rivers is an important component of these programs.

Under Namami Gange Programme, a comprehensive set of interventions such as wastewater treatment, solid waste management, river front management (ghats and crematoria development), e-flow, afforestation, biodiversity conservation and public participation etc have been taken up for rejuvenation of river Ganga and its tributaries. So far, a total of 450 projects have been taken up at an estimated cost of Rs. 38,022.37 crore, out of which 270 projects have been completed and made operational. Majority of the projects pertain to creation of sewage infrastructure as the untreated domestic/industrial wastewater is the main reason for pollution in the river. 195 sewerage infrastructure projects have been taken up with a cost of Rs. 31,344.13 crore for creation & rehabilitation of 6,173.12 Million Litres per Day (MLD) of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) capacity and laying of around 5,253.64 km sewerage network. Among these, 109 sewerage projects have been completed resulting in creation & rehabilitation of 2664.05 MLD of STP capacity and laying of 4465.54 km sewerage network.

NRCP has so far covered polluted stretches on 38 rivers in 82 towns in 16 States across the country at a total cost of Rs. 8241.32 crore, and sewage treatment capacity of 2910.50 Million Litres per Day (MLD) has been created.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change has released the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) prepared by Indian Council of Forestry, Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun for Rejuvenation of 13 Major Rivers namely Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelum, Luni, Yamuna, Mahanadi, Brahmaputra, Narmada, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery through Forestry interventions, in March, 2022.

The DPRs have been forwarded to concerned State Governments for implementation with multi-departmental participation. The State Forest Departments together with concerned Departments namely Agricultural & Horticulture Department, Urban Municipal Bodies, Department of Rural Development etc. are envisaged to implement the DPRs with the funding sources under various Central and State Government schemes.

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in collaboration with the State Pollution Control Board (SPCBs)/Pollution Control Committee (PCCs) is regularly monitoring water quality of rivers and other water bodies in country through a network of monitoring stations. As per CPCB report of November, 2022, 311 polluted river stretches have been identified on 279 rivers based on monitoring results in terms of Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) levels, an indicator of organic pollution. The number of polluted river stretches has decreased to 311 in the ibid report from 351 identified by CPCB report published in September, 2018.

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

 

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AS

(Release ID: 1987821)