Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Shri Nitin Gadkari has called upon Indian business leaders in UK to come forward and cooperate with the Indian Government in its Namami Gange project to clean the river Ganga. Addressing a gathering of business leaders in London yesterday Shri Gadkari said that while Nirmal Ganga is the foremost priority for the Government, people’s participation is also vital for maintaining the river’s pristine glory. 

Shri Gadkari said that there are projects worth more than Rs.10,000 crore for development of ghats, crematoria, waterbodies, parks, sanitation facilities, public amenities and river front development which need additional funding. He informed that projects worth over Rs 2500 crore, available for private funding have been published as a booklet and are also available on the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) website as an e-booklet .The Minister appealed to the business leaders to select projects of their choice for funding. He said the list of projects is only illustrative and will be updated. As of now there are projects in the category of development of ghats and crematoria, modernisation of existing ghats. development of Smriti Vans (tree plantation at select places of choice), in-situ treatment of drains by using innovative technologies such as bioremediation and modular sewage treatment plants. 

Talking about the work being done by the Government for ensuring Nirmal Ganga Shri Gadkari said that more than 119 ghat projects have already been taken up in five states at the cost of Rs.650 Crore. NMCG has taken up the execution of various sewerage infrastructure projects. 97 towns have been identified along the main stream of river Ganga, for generating 3603 Mld (estimated for year 2035) of sewage treatment capacity. The existing sewage treatment capacity in these towns is 1580 Mld. In the first phase, 85 sewerage projects have been taken up in 55 of these 97 towns. These projects will create another 1424 Mld STP capacity at a cost of Rs. 11105 Cr. In the remaining 42 towns, fresh interventions are not required either due to interventions already taken up under other schemes or due to low pollution load / impact. 

Shri Gadkari further informed that the Government is spending more than Rs.20,000 crore on sewage treatment to ensure Nirmal Ganga. Ten major towns contribute almost 64% of present sewage generation of the 97 identified above, The towns are Haridwar, Kanpur, Allahabad, Farrukhabad, Varanasi, Patna, Bhagalpur, Kolkata, Howrah and Bally. All requirements of sewage treatment infrastructure in these 10 towns have been fully addressed. 18 of the 85 projects undertaken have been completed, creating 151 mld STP capacity which is presently in operation. 35 projects are under progress and other 32 projects are under various stages of tendering. This will create an additional sewage treatment capacity of 1273 mld. 

Following Shri Gadkari’s appeal some business leaders gave their commitments for projects in Patna and Kanpur. More such commitments and MoUs in this regard are slated to be signed during a Namami Gange Road Show being organized on November 29,2017 in London. A large number of NRIs, PIOs are expected to join this session. Shri Gadkari expressed the hope that he expects commitment of more than Rs. 2000 crores from business leaders during this road show. 
 

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Samir/ 

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