(a) the funds allocated and spent in cleaning of the Ganga River during the last two years;
(b) the details of new technologies being used for cleaning;
(c) the steps taken by the Government to expedite the treatment of solid waste floating in rivers in the country especially the Ganga; and
(d) whether the Government plans to outsource the work of cleaning of River Ganga to private contractors and if so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR YOUTH AFFAIRS & SPORTS AND MINISTER OF STATE FOR WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION
(SHRI VIJAY GOEL)
(a) to (d) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (D) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.9 TO BE ANSWERED ON THURSDAY, THE 2ND FEBRUARY, 2017 ON “CLEANING OF GANGA RIVER” RAISED BY SHRI CHANDU LAL SAHU & SHRIMATI VEENA DEVI.
(a) The funds allocated for cleaning river Ganga during 2014-15 and 2015-16 is Rs. 2053.00 crore and Rs. 1650.00 crore respectively(Revised Estimates). The funds released by Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India to National Mission for Clean Ganga during the same period is Rs. 326.00 crore and Rs. 1632.00 crore respectively.
(b) Pollution in river Ganga is primarily caused by the untreated or partially treated municipal sewage being drained either directly in the river or its tributaries, effluents being discharged from various kind of industrial units and also solid waste being generated at different public places along the river. To address the issue of management of pollution load in river, various kind of technologies have been employed in last two years which are described below:
i. Aerobic treatment of sewage coupled with nutrient removal process by adopting these processes in various Sewage Treatment Plants being designed and executed.
ii. Disinfection of treated sewage to manage the its bacteriological standards by elimination of faecal coliform by employing chlorination/ UV irradiation and advanced filtration;
iii. In-situ treatment of drains by adopting bio-remediation measures wherever conventional sewage treatment is not feasible because of techno-economic considerations;
iv. Mix of an aerobic and aerobic process through use of natural or constructed wetlands in locations, particularly in rural and semi-urban situations, where availability of land is not a constraint and availability of assured power supply for operation of conventional STPs is constrained.
v. Arresting the river surface floating waste by deployment of mechanical trash skimmers and floating booms and its disposal through Urban Local bodies.
(c) As part of Namami Gange Programme, mechanical trash skimmer and floating boom barriers are under deployment at 11 priority towns along main-stem Ganga and Yamuna to arrest the floating solid waste in the river.
Further, M/s IL&FS Environmental Infrastructure & Services Ltd has been entrusted the works of Ghats cleaning at Varanasi to ensure arresting the solid waste disposal in the river and keeping the ghats neat & clean with central financial support of Rs. 5.00 crore per year.
(d) The work of cleaning the river Ganga is being executed by State agencies as well as Central PSUs through competitive bidding process for award of works.
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