THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI & SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT
(SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA)
(a) to (c) Rivers in the country are polluted mainly due to discharge of untreated and partially treated sewage from cities/towns and industrial effluents. Non-point sources of pollution like agricultural runoff, open defecation, runoff from solid waste dump sites, etc. also contribute to pollution of rivers. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in association with the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/ Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) monitors the water quality of rivers on a regular basis across the country through a network of monitoring stations. As per latest CPCB report of September, 2018, 351 polluted river stretches have been identified on 323 rivers based on the value of Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) an indicator of organic pollution. State - wise details of polluted stretches is provided at Annexure.
Cleaning of river is a continuous process and Central Government is supplementing the efforts of the State Governments and Union Territories in addressing the challenges of pollution of rivers by providing financial and technical assistance through schemes like National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) and Namami Gange. The NRCP has so far covered polluted stretches of 34 rivers in 77 towns spread over 16 States in the country with a sanctioned cost of Rs.5870.54 crore and sewage treatment capacity of 2522.03 million litres per day (mld) has been created. Under Namami Gange, the rejuvenation of Ganga and its tributaries have been taken up. So far, a total 310 projects have been sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs.28790.66 crore under Namami Gange. Of these, 116 projects have been completed and made operational. Sewage treatment capacity of 665.59 mld has been created so far under the programme.
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In addition, sewerage infrastructure is created under programs like Atal Mission For Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Smart Cities Mission of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs.
Measures taken by the Government to stop discharge of industrial effluents into rivers inter alia, include issuance of notification of specific discharge standards, revision of the criteria for categorization of industries and issuing directions to all State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) / Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) to adopt the same, issuance of consent to establish/consent to operate by the SPCBs/PCCs, regular and surprise inspections of Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) for compliance verification against stipulated environmental norms, installation of Online Continuous Effluent Monitoring System (OCEMS) for assessment of effluent quality and compliance status. Further, CPCB/SPCBs and PCCs regularly monitor industries with respect to effluent discharge standards and take action for non-compliance under provisions of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
(d) & (e) This Ministry has been supplementing the efforts of the States/UTs for pollution abatement in river Yamuna, a tributary of River Ganga, by providing financial assistance to the states of Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in a phased manner since 1993 under the Yamuna Action Plans (YAP) and later under Namami Ganga programme for creation of sewerage infrastructure and sewage treatment plants for ensuring that untreated sewage is not let into the river. In addition, a number of non-core projects to tackle non-point sources of pollution in Yamuna were also sanctioned. Total expenditure incurred on conservation of river Yamuna under the YAP Phase-I & II was Rs.1514.70 crore, and sewage treatment capacity of 942.25 mld was created.
With the launching of Namami Gange program in May, 2015, the Central Government has included Yamuna river under the programme. The Government has under the Namami Gange programme sanctioned 21 sewerage infrastructure projects at an estimated cost of Rs.4537.28 crore in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for pollution abatement of Yamuna and sewage treatment capacity of 145 mld has been created so far. A project for up-gradation of the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) at Mathura (UP) has also been sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs. 13.87 crore. In addition to monitoring of industrial pollution by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), a CETP Act, 2000 has been enacted by the Govt. of Delhi empowering their Industries Department for ensuring proper operation and maintenance of the CETPs. Pollution abatement works have been sanctioned at Kota and Keshoraipatan in Rajasthan and Nagda in Madhya Pradesh for river Chambal under NRCP for an amount of 154.06 crore.
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ANNEXURE
Annexure referred to in reply to parts (a) to (c) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. †2301 to be answered on 05.03.2020 on “Pollution in Rivers”.
State-wise &Priority-wise number of Polluted River Stretches
STATE I II III IV V Grand Total
ANDHRA PRADESH 2 3 5
ASSAM 3 1 4 3 33 44
BIHAR 1 5 6
CHHATTISGARH 4 1 5
DAMAN, DIU AND DADRA NAGAR HAVELI 1 1
DELHI 1 1
GOA 1 2 8 11
GUJARAT 5 1 2 6 6 20
HARYANA 2 2
HIMACHAL PRADESH 1 1 1 4 7
JAMMU & KASHMIR 1 2 2 4 9
JHARKHAND 3 4 7
KARNATAKA 4 7 6 17
KERALA 1 5 15 21
MADHYA PRADESH 3 1 1 3 14 22
MAHARASHTRA 9 6 14 10 14 53
MANIPUR 1 8 9
MEGHALAYA 2 3 2 7
MIZORAM 1 3 5 9
NAGALAND 1 1 2 2 6
ODISHA 1 3 2 13 19
PUDUCHERRY 1 1 2
PUNJAB 2 1 1 4
RAJASTHAN 1 1 2
SIKKIM 4 4
TAMIL NADU 4 1 1 6
TELANGANA 1 2 2 2 1 8
TRIPURA 6 6
UTTAR PRADESH 4 1 2 5 12
UTTARAKHAND 3 1 1 4 9
WEST BENGAL 1 1 3 4 8 17
Grand Total 45 16 43 72 175 351
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