(a) the measures taken by the Government for the conservation of the Vembanattu, Ashtamudi and Sasthamcottah lakes;
(b) whether the Government has taken any measures to limit the presence of large quantities of fluoride and bacterial contamination in various backwaters in the country and if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the steps taken by the Government to mitigate the negative impact of human activities and in improving the sustainability of the lakes in the country?
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION (PROF.SANWAR LAL JAT)
(a) As per the information provided by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Govt. of India, the financial assistance is provided to the States for activities relating to survey and demar- cation, aforestation, catchment area treatment, water management, protection measures, fisheries development, weed control, wildlife conservation, pollution abatement, eco-development, etc. of iden- tified wetlands under the National Wetlands Conse- rvation Programme (NWCP).
Ashtamudi, Samsthamkotta and Vembanad-Kol wetlands in Kerala have been identified for conservation and management under the NWCP. An amount of Rs 53.08 lakhs for Sasthamkotta and Rs 97.19 lakh for Ash- tamudi wetland has been released to the State Gove- rnment of Kerala. The management action plan for conservation of Vembanad-Kol wetland has not been received from the State Govt.
(b) The measures to be taken to limit fluoride and bacterial contamination in backwaters comes under the purview of the concerned State governments. However, the collection and disposal network for the sewage as well as solid waste generated around back waters are also taken up through various schemes like JNNURM, NRCP to limit the presence of large quantities of fluoride and bacterial contamination.
(c) To have better synergy and to avoid overlap, the NWCP has been merged with another scheme of National Lake Conservation Plan in February, 2013. The new integrated scheme ‘National Plan for Conse- rvation of Aquatic Eco-systems’ (NPCA) aims at ho- listic conservation of lakes and wetlands on 70:30 cost sharing basis between the Central and the State Governments (90:10 for North Eastern States).
Further, the Central Government also provide grants under the scheme ‘Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of water bodies/ponds’ for reclamation of lost irrigation potential, improvement of command area/catchment area of tanks, restoring/increase in storage capacity etc. of water bodies.