Question : Rivers Restoration Projects

(a) whether the Government has received any proposal from the State Government of Tamil Nadu for the Rivers Restoration Projects to restore the river systems and water bodies in and around Chennai, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur Districts;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the list of projects given approval or to be approved and the amount earmarked and funds allocated for the same;

(c) whether the Government has any plans to introduce state of the art technology in carrying out rivers cleaning and de-silting process on its own or with Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode; and

(d) if so, the details thereof and the list of those projects approved and carried out in the last three years, year-wise, State-wise?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

(a) & (b) This Ministry has been supplementing the efforts of the State Governments in abatement of pollution in identified stretches of various rivers in the country, including Tamil Nadu, under the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP), on cost sharing basis between the Central and State Governments. 29 projects have been sanctioned for pollution abatement of Cooum and Adyar rivers in Chennai under NRCP at a total cost of Rs.404.25 crore for implementation of works relating to interception & diversion of sewage, laying of sewer lines, construction of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), crematoria, etc., and Central funds amounting to Rs. 375.65 crore have been released to Government of Tamil Nadu for implementation of these works. Sewage treatment capacity of 264 million litres per day (mld.) has been created in Chennai under NRCP. No projects has been sanctioned under NRCP for any rivers stretches in Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur Districts of Tamil Nadu.

Under another scheme of National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems (NPCA), Central funds amounting to Rs. 2.23 crore have so far been released to the State Government for conservation of Pallikaranai wetland in Chennai.

(c) & (d) From time to time, new sewage treatment technologies are taken up under the NRCP programme. In the recent past, a 5 mld Pilot Plant using innovative Down-flow Hanging Sponge (DHS) system for post-treatment treatment of Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) effluents has been installed at Agra with assistance of Japan International Cooperation Agency. Pilot projects for in-situ treatment of sewage through bio-remediation have also been set up at Budha Nalla in Ludhiana, Punjab using Green Bridge Technology and at Baker Ganj Nalla in Patna using Eco-Bio Block (EBB) technology. To strengthen the sustainability of the projects, the Government also encourages design, build and operate (DBO) model for implementation of projects under NRCP.

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