NMCG grants approval to new Ganga sewage infrastructure projects

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has given approval to several fresh projects ranging from construction of sewage infrastructure along the Ganga to rejuvenation of ponds & bioremediation of drains even as the Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has emphasised that the process of rejuvenation of the river was a continuous task and needed wide public participation.

In two meetings held in recent weeks, the executive committee (EC) of NMCG has given revised administrative approval and expenditure sanction to sewerage works for Bhagalpur, Bihar entailing a cost of Rs 413.29-crore project and a project involving interception and diversion and sewage treatment plant (STP) works in Phusro in Jharkhand at a cost of Rs 61.05 crore.

The EC of NMCG, led by its Director General Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, is an empowered body with financial powers to sanction projects for up to Rs 1000 crore. At the recent meetings, the EC also gave approval for a project that envisages interception and diversion and STP works at Kairana Town in Shamli in Uttar Pradesh at a cost of Rs 78.42, treatment of Kosi drain at Vrindavan through in-situ bioremediation at a cost of Rs 1.39 crore and expanding a project that seeks involvement of the youth in Namami Gange programme to 26 new districts through Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, entailing a cost of Rs 9.22 crore.

Besides giving approval for sewage treatment infrastructure in towns and cities along the Ganga in seven Ganga basin states, the EC has been taking up a variety of projects for wholesome rejuvenation of the river and its tributaries including projects for conservation of water bodies and protection of environment & ecology.

At its last meeting, the EC also gave sanction to community toilets, urinals and dustbins for cleanliness and sanitation and public outreach activities as support for the Kumbh mela in 2021 at Haridwar under the Namami Gange programme. The projects will cost Rs 79.12 crore.

According to NMCG officials, a total of 315 projects have been sanctioned under Namami Gange programme at a cost of Rs 28,854 crore. While 130 projects have been completed, the remaining are in progress. “The pace of execution and consequently the expenditure has increased many folds in recent months with the expenditure for 2019-20 being Rs 2673.09 crore as compared to Rs 170.99 crore in 2014-15”, said an official.

Of these projects, a total of 153 sewerage projects have been sanctioned by NMCG at the cost of Rs 23,222.35 crore across eight states – Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Haryana, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of sewage projects planned at 49, spread across 31 towns with sanctioned cost of Rs 10,175.63 crore followed by Uttarakhand with 35 projects sanctioned across 19 towns with a sanctioned cost of 1,159.85 crore.

However, only 20 projects have been completed till date in Uttar Pradesh and 22 are under construction while 27 projects have been completed and seven are under construction in Uttarakhand.

In Bihar, where 30 projects have been sanctioned across 20 towns at a sanctioned cost of Rs 5,328.6 crore, just two projects have been completed while as many as 21 are under construction and seven are under process. In West Bengal, of the 23 sanctioned projects in 21 towns, only three have been completed while 12 are under construction and eight are under process.

Overall, of the 153 sewage infrastructure projects, only 55 have been completed in the eight states while as many as 74 are under construction and 24 are under various stages of tendering.

Meanwhile, speaking at the recently organised Ganga Utsav 2020, Shekhawat said, “The rejuvenation of Ganga is a continuous task that’s why we have to promote public participation, we have to create a sense of duty among people, it can be done only when we are able to make people realize what the Ganga offers us”.

Events like Ganga Utsav play a very big role in promoting the participation of the people through engagement and dialogue. “This programme is an enabler in transforming our ‘Astha’ (faith) to our ‘Kartavya'(duty) towards Ganga,” he said.

During the event, several projects such as ‘Ganga Aerial Movie’, a film which showcases the journey of Ganga from the origin to the end in breath-taking aerial view; Urban River Management Plan, a joint project between NMCG and National Institute of Urban Affairs, Union Housing & Urban Affairs Ministry were launched.

The NMCG-NIUA project is a first of its kind strategic framework for managing urban river stretches in the Ganga River basin. The project is a river-centric planning framework designed to help cities manage the rivers within their stretches using a systems approach.

Also, well known Indian comic book character Chacha Chaudhary was named the brand ambassador for the Namami Gange project while Ganga Box, an innovative learning tool, was also launched during the event as part of the ‘Support to Ganga Rejuvenation’ project, being conducted by NMCG in collaboration with German development agency GIZ.