Question : CLEANING OF RIVERS

(a) whether the measures taken in past by the Government for cleaning of river Ganga and other major rivers have not yielded desired results;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;

(c) the details of the various measures taken for the cleaning of River Ganga and other rivers and the funds allocated/spent during each of the last three years and the current year; and

(d) the details of the fresh initiatives being taken by the Government to clean River Ganga and other major rivers?

THE MINISTER OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION (SUSHRI UMA BHARATI)

(a) to (d) A Statement is laid on the table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF STARRED QUESTION No. 434. TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.08.2014 REGARDING “CLEANING OF RIVERS”

(a)&(b) Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) have informed that it is the responsibility of the State Governments/ local bodies to identify polluted rivers, take appropriate corrective steps in consonance with the State Pollution Control Boards, and to evaluate the impact thereof. The MoEF&CC is supplementing the efforts of the State Governments in addressing the problem of pollution in identified stretches of major rivers under the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP), including the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) programme. The projects under NRCP and NGRBA are being implemented on a cost-sharing basis between the Centre and State Governments.

(c) For river Ganga, National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) has been setup in 2009 under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister. The implementing agency for NGRBA is National Mission on Clean Ganga (NMCG), which is headed by Secretary, MoEF&CC. For rivers other than Ganga, National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD) under Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change is entrusted with pollution control and conservation/ development of rivers. It has a National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) for such activities.

Since inception of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) programme, 76 schemes (70 infrastructure investment, 5 institutional development and 1 implementation support) in 48 towns in Ganga States have been sanctioned at a total cost of Rs. 5004.19 crore. Against this, Rs. 1229.87 crore has been released by the Centre including the matching share of the States so far and a total expenditure of Rs. 838.76 crore has been incurred till March, 2014 for implementation of the projects.

A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for 10 years has been signed in 2010 by MoEF&CC & the consortium of 7 IITs for preparation of a comprehensive River Basin Management Plan for Ganga. Besides the IITs, National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee under MoWR, BHU, various universities and research institutes are also involved in GRBMP. Interim report has been submitted, which is circulated to different ministries, departments and other stakeholders for comments.

For rivers other than Ganga, National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD) implements the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National River Conservation Plan (NRCP), jointly with the State Governments on a cost-sharing basis. The pollution abatement works under NRCP, (excluding GAP-I, GAP-II and NGRBA) presently cover identified polluted stretches of 40 major rivers in 121 towns spread over 19 States in the country. The sanctioned cost of the projects under NRCP (excluding GAP-I, GAP-II and NGRBA) is Rs. 5334.97 crore against which expenditure of Rs.4680.30 crore has been incurred so far and sewage treatment capacity of 3729.49 mld has been created. The funding pattern is 70:30 between Centre and States. Japanese (JICA) assisted Yamuna Action Plan Phase-III is being implemented with a funding pattern of 85:15 between the Central Government and the State Governments. For projects in North-East States, a funding pattern of 90:10 is adopted.

Further, Details of funds allocated and expenditure incurred by the States under the NRCP and NGRBA programmes, during the last three years and current year, State-wise, are placed at Annexure-I & II, respectively.

(d) Government is committed to rejuvenation of River Ganga. Consultation with different stakeholders viz., Ministries such as Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change; Water Resources, Ganga Rejuvenation and River Development; Urban Development; Tourism; Shipping; Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation; Rural Development, etc., as well as academics, technical experts and NGOs associated with cleaning of Ganga, is in progress. Crystallisation of action plan, including framing of its salient features, time line and likely expenditure would be known only after the finalisation of the action plan for cleaning of River Ganga.