Question : Removal of Silt Deposits from Ganga and Yamuna Rivers

(a) whether the Government has conducted or proposes to conduct an inspection of locations having silt deposits in Ganga and Yamuna rivers and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the date on which the said inspection was conducted along with the steps taken by the Government in this regard;

(c) whether various States have raised their concern in this regard, if so, the details thereof and the action taken
thereon;

(d) the steps taken by the Government to remove silt deposits from Ganga and Yamuna rivers; and

(e) whether the Government has fixed any time limit for the purpose and if so, the details thereof along with the time by which silt deposits are likely to be removed?

THE MINISTER OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION, ROAD TRANSPORT & HIGHWAYS AND SHIPPING

(SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)

(a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.





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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (E) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. †*543 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON
5TH APRIL, 2018 REGARDING “REMOVAL OF SILT DEPOSITS FROM GANGA AND YAMUNA RIVERS” ASKED BY SHRI ARVIND SAWANT, MP.

(a) to (c) On the request of State Government of Bihar, a Central team led by Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation along with officials and experts i.e. Sh. A.B. Pandya, former Chairman, Central Water Commission and Prof. Z. Ahmed, IIT Roorkee had visited the State on 5th June’ 2017 and held discussions with State Government officials. An aerial survey of the reach of river Ganga from Buxar to Farakka was carried out by the Central team.
The team held discussions with Hon’ble Chief Minister of Bihar along with State Government officials and experts wherein it was decided that a Committee to look into various aspects of floods and siltation in the State of Bihar shall be constituted. The opinion of State Government of Bihar has also been obtained in respect of constitution of the Committee including its Terms of Reference.
Consequently, a Committee has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Shri A.B. Pandya, Former Chairman, Central Water Commission (CWC), to address the issues of flood and siltation in the State of Bihar. The Committee was constituted on 24th August, 2017.

(d) Erosion and deposition of silt is a natural process in alluvial rivers. Rivers carry, pickup and drop silt load as per their regime conditions, i.e. discharge in the river, river slope, morphology, nature of silt etc. A Committee headed by Dr. B.K. Mittal, former Chairman, CWC had studied the siltation pattern in few rivers in India and inter-alia concluded that siltation was not pronounced and alarming. The Committee also found that de-silting in general was not feasible technically due to several reasons like non-sustainability,
non-availability of vast land required for the disposal of dredged material etc. However, cost effective measures for removal of drainage congestion in specific reaches of rivers for channel capacity improvement and navigation purposes are formulated and implemented by concerned States/ agencies as per requirement. The Union Government renders assistance to States which is technical, advisory, catalytic and promotional in nature.

(e) No, Madam. The Government has not fixed any time limit for removal of the silt deposits.

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