(a) whether the Government has taken loan or received any grant from foreign countries to
check pollution in rivers in the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the funds received from various countries, country-wise;
and
(c) the details of amount utilised so far on the cleaning of rivers?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS (SHRIMATI JAYANTHI NATARAJAN)
(a) & (b)For undertaking pollution abatement for conservation of rivers under National River
Conservation Plan, external assistance from bilateral/ multilateral agencies is availed of from
time to time by the Government. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Government of
Japan has provided a loan assistance of Yen 31.10 billion for the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) Phase-I
and II, and Yen 32.571 billion for YAPIII.
For pollution abatement of the river Ganga at Varanasi, loan assistance of 11.184 billion Yen has
been availed from JICA. A project with World Bank assistance for abatement of pollution of river
Ganga at an estimated cost of Rs.7000 crore has been approved in April, 2011 with the World Bank
contribution of US $ 1 billion for the project.
(c) An expenditure of Rs. 1438.34 crore and Rs. 32.49 crore have been incurred, so far, for
implementation of pollution abatement schemes for river Yamuna and Ganga at Varanasi town
respectively under JICA assisted YAP projects. Under the World Bank assisted project for
abatement of pollution of river Ganga, Rs.11.09 crore has been utilized, so far.