World Bank has sanctioned a loan of US $ 1 billion for funding Institutional Development and for construction of priority infrastructure projects for municipal waste water treatment and solid waste treatment on the main stem of Ganga in the five Ganga basin states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.

Government of India has withdrawn a cumulative amount of US $ 91.26 million (Rs. 550.48 crore) under this loan till date.

Cleaning of river is a continuous process. Namami Gange Programme has been launched as a holistic approach covering all existing ongoing projects and new initiative. Under Namami Gange project total number of 173 projects for various activities such as sewage infrastructure, river front development, ghat and crematoria, ghat cleaning, river surface cleaning, afforestation and biodiversity conservation and rural sanitation etc. have been sanctioned. Out of 173 projects 41 numbers of projects have been completed so far.

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

Samir/JD/jk 

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