(a) whether the Government has allocated/released funds under the National River Conservation Programme (NRCP), National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) and various other programmes to control pollution; and
(b) if so, the details thereof during the last three years and the current year, Scheme and State/UT-wise including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ANIL MADHAV DAVE)
(a) & (b) This Ministry has been supplementing the efforts of the State Governments in abatement of pollution in identified stretches of various rivers under National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) and NGRBA (National Ganga River Basin Authority) programmes on cost sharing basis between the Central Government and respective State Governments. The NGRBA programme along with work of Ganga & its tributaries is with Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR, RD & GR) from 01/08/2014 onwards. The programmes of NRCP & NGRBA (till 31/07/2014) have so far covered polluted stretches of 43 rivers in 200 towns spread over 21 States at a sanctioned cost of Rs.12202.59 crore. So far, Central share of Rs. 5363.56 crore has been released to the State Governments for implementation of various pollution abatement schemes and sewage treatment capacity of 5241.48 million litres per day (mld) has been created under these two programmes. State-wise details of funds released to various State Governments under the NRCP/NGRBA during the last three years and current year (till February, 2017) are at Annexure-I.
For conservation and management of identified lakes and wetlands in the country, this Ministry had earlier been implementing two separate programmes, namely National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) and National Wetland Conservation Programme (NWCP). To have better synergy and to avoid overlap, both the programmes have been merged in February, 2013 into a new integrated scheme of
National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems (NPCA). Under NPCA, financial assistance is provided to the State Governments for conservation of identified lakes and wetlands in the country, on cost sharing basis between the Central Government and respective State Governments. So far, an amount of Rs. 151.94 crores has been released to the States and other organizations for conservation and management of 82 identified wetlands in the country. Similarly, this Ministry has so far sanctioned projects for conservation of 63 lakes in 14 States at a total cost of Rs. 1096.09 crores. So far, an amount of Rs. 687.588 crores has been released for the sanctioned projects and work on 34 lakes has been completed. State-wise details of funds released to various State Governments under NPCA during the last three years and current year (till February, 2017) are at Annexure-II.
This Ministry is also providing grants to the State Pollution Control Boards(SPCBs)/Pollution Control Committees (PCCs), Environment Departments of States, Central/State Research Institutes and other Government agencies/organizations under the scheme of ‘Assistance for Abatement of Pollution’. The objective of the scheme is abatement of pollution through strengthening of technical capabilities of the SPCBs, PCCs & Research Institutions. Assistance is also provided under the scheme to Pollution Control Boards of North Eastern States & PCCs as salary support for their technical staff. In addition, Central subsidy is also provided by the Ministry to State Governments for setting up of Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs). Details of funds released to various State Governments, State-wise, under these two schemes during the last three years and current year are at Annexure-III.
No funds have been released to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana during the last three years under the schemes of NRCP & NPCA, while funds amounting to Rs.0.20 crore have been released to Andhra Pradesh under the CETP scheme in the current financial year.
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