Question : Cleaning of Rivers

(a) the details of ongoing projects/ schemes meant for cleaning of Ganga, Yamuna and other major rivers in the country along with the progress made thereunder so far;

(b) the funds allocated/released/utilized for the purpose during each year of the current Five Year Plan, State/river-wise;

(c) the details and extent of financial/ technical assistance received/to be received for each of these river from various countries/agencies/banks etc. during the said period including utilisation of the same;

(d) the steps taken to conduct regular checks of water quality of these rivers along with stringent action taken/to be taken against the offenders for polluting them; and

(e) the time by which the said rivers are likely to become pollution free?

THE HON’BLE MINISTER FOR WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION (SUSHRI UMA BHARTI)

(a) Cleaning of river Ganga and its tributaries is being undertaken by Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (MOWR, RD & GR) while cleaning of other rivers in identified stretches is being taken up under the National River Conservation Programme (NRCP)under the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MOEF & CC).

Details of ongoing schemes for cleaning river Ganga and its tributaries are given in Annexure-1.

For rivers other than Ganga and its tributaries, NRCP has covered polluted stretches of 30 rivers in 74 towns spread over 14 States at a cost of Rs. 3527.57 crore. Sewage treatment capacity of 2296 million litres per day (mld) has been created so far under NRCP.

(b) Funds released to the States for implementation of sanctioned works under NRCP/NGRBA since 2012-13 is given in Annexure 2.

(c) The World Bank has funded US $ 1 billion for the National Ganga River Project. Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA) has agreed to provide 11,184 million Yen for Ganga Action Plan Project. JICA has also agreed to provide 32,571 million Yen for Yamuna Action Plan Project-III. German Government has offered 3 million Euros for supporting Ganga Rejuvenation during the Indo-German Government Negotiations held in November 2014. Another MoU has been signed between the Governments of Australia and India in the field of water resources management. A short-term project has been initiated by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) for ‘Drain Analysis and Water Quality Scorecards’ since April 2015. The project will be funded by Australian Aid.

(d) Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has been keeping a vigilant eye on Industrial Units polluting river Ganga. CPCB, under the Pollution Inventorization Assessment and Surveillance Project (PIAS), has inventorised 764 Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) along the main stem of River Ganga. CPCB had issued directions to respective State Pollution Control Boards for directing the industrial units located in Ganga basin States for installation of continuous online effluent quality monitoring systems before 31st March, 2015 and later extended the deadline till 30th June, 2015. So far, systems installed in 80 units have been connected to CPCB server for data transfer.

The CPCB has issued directions under Section 5 of Environment Protection Act (EP Act) to 200 industries and directions under Section 18 (1) (b) of the Water (PCP) Act, 1974 to 178 industries. CPCB has issued closure directions to 64 units. Further, the Uttar Pradesh State Pollution Control Board has issued closure directions to 98 tanneries for operating without the consent of the Board, on the directions of Hon’ble National Green Tribunal.

(e) Conservation of rivers is a continuous and ongoing process. Ongoing schemes for river Ganga are likely to be completed by 2019.


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ANNEXURE 1
Annexure referred to in reply to Part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.896 due for reply on 03.12.2015

Progress Status of NGRBA Projects in the Ganga Basin States
(As on 30th September, 2015)
Rs. in crores
Sl. No. State / Organisation Sanction
Cost STP capacity to be created (in mld) STP capacity created (in mld) Release of funds
Total Total Expenditure

1 Uttarakhand
(20 projects in 12 towns) 328.04 78.80 18.00 80.52 80.52
2 Uttar Pradesh
(15 projects in 8 towns) 2256.01 335.90 105.00 812.46 720.22
3 Bihar
(14 projects in 5 towns) 2155.62 218.00 166.04 113.24
4 Jharkhand
(1 project in 1 town) 99.36 12.00 8.84 0.76
5 West Bengal
(30 projects in 24 towns) 1352.51 93.53 433.36 433.36
Total 6191.54 738.23 123.00 1501.32 1348.10



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Annexure 2
Annexure referred to in reply to Part (b) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.896 due for reply on 03.12.2015


Details of funds released under National River Conservation Plan & National Ganga River Basin Authority Programmes

S. No. State Funds released
(Rs. In crore)
2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 (till 31/10/2015)
1 Bihar -- 91.14 -- 79.02
2 Jharkhand -- 6.26 0.97 27.83
3 Gujarat 41.71 -- 44.00 7.39
4 Maharashta 5.07 22.42 -- --
5 Punjab 45.36 98.04 28.80 17.61
6 Haryana 38.20 10.00 10.46 30.00
7 Odisha -- -- -- --
8 Rajasthan -- -- -- --
9 Delhi -- -- -- 4.96
10 Uttar Pradesh 107.31 133.80 104.66 128.96
11 Uttarakhand 11.30 17.05 7.25 22.56
12 West Bengal -- 48.90 73.85 126.83
13 Sikkim 21.65 15.00 -- --
14 Nagaland -- -- -- 10.00
Total 270.60 442.61 269.99 455.16


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