Special
Feature -34
National
Mission for Clean Ganga: The challenges ahead
*K.N.Pathak
Before
the advent of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Ganga,
the most revered and national river of India, was facing the challenge to its existence due to discharge of increasing quantities of
sewage, trade effluents and other pollutants on account of rapid urbanization
and industrialization. The stretch of Ganga covers a length of 2525 kilometers
across five states namely Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West
Bengal. It has a catchment area of 8,61,404 square km covering over a quarter
of country’s land area and sustaining 46% of the total population of the
country. It touches 118 towns and 1657 Gram Panchayats across 66 districts of 5
states of India.
The
National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), created in June, 2014, is being
supported by State level Programme Management Groups (SPMGs) of Uttar Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and west Bengal. The main activities
undertaken under Namami Gange include sewage and effluent management including creation
of new and rehabilitation of existing STPs, complete sanitation coverage of Gram
Panchayats, development of model cremation/dhobi ghats, development of decision
support system in GIS platform for efficient planning and monitoring and
creation of an IT based monitoring centre with capabilities of real time alerts
and prediction. For long term protection and rejuvenation, a provision has been
made for 100% funding for the entire life time cost of the treatment of assets
created including O&M cost for 10 years. Due importance has also been
accorded to bio diversity, conservation, maintenance of flow in the river and
afforestation along river side with medicinal and native plant species along
with conservation of aquatic species.
The
expenditure incurred on Namami Gange in the first three years, (ie; 2014-2015
to 2016-17) is Rs 3673.00 crore. For the current year (2017-18), an amount of
Rs 2300 crore has been allocated in the budget. It is however, observed that
the pace of utilization of fund under this programme has not been satisfactory.
The slow implementation of project is attributed to delay in tendering,
retendering, non- availability of land, legal issues, natural calamities, delay
in permission for road cutting, crossing, local festivals, higher fund
requirement and pending approvals of state Cabinet etc. Regular monitoring
meeting of NMCG with concerned state is expected to help in expediting the pace
of the projects implementation and eliminating bottlenecks in making land
available and clear the projects through tendering.
The
Order issued through the Gazette of India on 7thOctober, 2016
constituting River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and management) Authorities
under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 lays down a new institutional
structure for policy and implementation in fast track manner and empowers NMCG to
discharge its functions in independent and accountable manner. The said
Authority has its jurisdiction spread over 5 states along the main stem of
Ganga and 5 states and Union territory of Delhi along the major tributaries of
the river Ganga.
The
key principles identified for the Authority are:
1)
Maintaining
the continuity of the flow without altering the natural season variations.
2)
Restoring
and maintaining the integral relationship between the surface flow and
sub-surface water (ground water),
3)
Restoration
and maintenance of the property and quality of water in time bound manner.
4)
Regenerating
and maintaining the lost natural vegetation in catchment area,
5)
Regeneration
and conservation of the aquatic and riparian biodiversity in river Ganga basin,
6)
To
keep the bank of river Ganga and its floodplains as construction free zone to
reduce pollution sources and maintain its natural ground water recharge
functions
7) Making public
participation as integral part of process of rejuvenation, protection and management
of the river.
River surface cleaning work has been undertaken in
major cities on the bank of River Ganga in collaboration with Corporate bodies and
Public Sector undertakings. Under Rural Sanitation programme, NMCG has provided
Rs 263 Crore to Ministry of Drinking Water &Sanitation for construction of
toilets. About 11 lakh toilets have been constructed so far. For
renovation/modernization and construction of crematoria based on standard
design, initially, 20-25 urban local bodies (ULBs) are being taken up with the
target of developing 100 crematoria in a year’s time.
River front/ ghat development work has been taken up
in 7 towns of Kedarnath, Haridwar, Delhi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Varanasi &
Patna in addition to repair and modernization of existing ghats. Under medium
term plan Effluents Management activity, real Time Effluent Monitoring stations
have been installed in 508 out of 764 grossly polluting industries of
distillery, pulp and paper; tanneries; textile and sugar. Regarding Zero Liquid
Discharge, action plan has been under implementation for distilleries since the
last quarter of 2016. Vigilance squad of Central Pollution Control Board is
closely monitoring for improved compliance.
Biodiversity Conservation is being implemented in
association with Wildlife Institute of India to cover Golden Mahaseer,
Dolphins, Crocodiles, Turtles and Otters etc under conservation programme.
30,000 Hectares of land is targeted to be covered under afforestation programme.
For water quality monitoring, in addition to 57 Manual monitoring stations, 113
Real-time monitoring stations are being set up with display boards at selected
locations. Steps are being taken for public outreach. Resource materials such
as posters, flyers, brochures, pamphlets, hoardings etc. have been circulated/displayed
among stake holders.
Awareness activities are taken up through Pad
Yatras, cleanliness drives, painting competitions for children, shramdaan,
talk-shows and dialogues etc. Namami Gange song has been released and played on
digital media and during public events. In addition to that featured articles
and advertorials through audio-visual media have also been introduced. Regular
updates are shared on Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and You tube
etc. Mass awareness campaigns, photo exhibitions , setting up Pavilions/Stalls
at national/ International events have also been organized. For involvement of
public in monitoring of pollution entering into the river Ganga, Bhuvan-Ganga
Web App and mobile app have been launched.
In
view of multi stakeholder nature of the Ganga rejuvenation challenge, 7
Ministries of Govt of India are working together on an action plan since
June,2014. Besides, MoU has also been signed between NMCG and 11 Ministries of
the Govt of India to ensure convergence of their activities in protection and
rejuvenation of river Ganga. MoU has also been signed with National
Remote Sensing Centre, a department under Indian Space Research Organization
ISRO.
For
Pollution abatement and cleaning exercise in river Ganga, the policy making
authorities at higher level have emphasized the need of close monitoring, focus
on minimizing waste generation and disposal of waste in eco- friendly manner
and publicizing the use of electric crematoria for enhancing its acceptability
among the masses. Uploading the monitoring reports in public domain has been
recommended.
A
number of decisions taken recently indicate that the pace of project
implementation has picked up momentum for pollution abatement and making the
flow of river incessant. State Ganga Committees and District Ganga Committees
have been formed to ensure effective implementation and Participation of people
in protection &rejuvenation of Ganga.
*****
*Author is an independent researcher and
writes on socio-economic issues. He is former Joint Adviser of Niti Aayog, Govt
of India.
These are the author’s views.