Question : Foreign Assistance for Ganga Cleaning

(a) the names of foreign countries/ agencies/banks who have shown their interest or are presently involved in the process of Ganga cleaning along with those likely to be involved by the Government in near future for the said purpose;
(b) the details and extent of financial/technical assistance provided/to be provided by each of them by indicating the benefits accrued/to be accrued therefrom;
(c) the details of ongoing projects with the said assistance along with their current status and those likely to be taken up in future, country/agency/bank-wise;
(d) the time schedule fixed for ongoing as well as the proposed projects for Ganga cleaning with foreign assistance; and
(e) the steps taken/to be taken to clean Ganga at the earliest including achievements made in this regard so far?

ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION
(PROF. SANWAR LAL JAT)

(a) Many countries such as Germany, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and Netherlands have expressed interest to support Ganga Rejuvenation through knowledge/technology sharing and providing financial/technical assistance for cleaning up of Ganga, capacity building, research & development, sharing of experiences, expertise & best practice. Similarly, multilateral and bilateral agencies such as World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are also providing assistance.

(b) to (d) Relevant details are in the Annexure.
An Umbrella Programme for Ganga river conservation, “NamamiGange” – Integrated Ganga Conservation Programme has been approved by the Cabinet with an outlay of Rs 20,000 Crores for the next 5 years. The primary objective of the program is pollution abatement by creating suitable treatment facilities for domestic/industrial solid and liquid waste. 93 projects have already been approved at the cost of Rs. 7350.38 crores for creating treatment capacity of 858 MLD and sewer network of 3623.10 km. ‘NamamiGange’ program also aims to tackle the river surface pollution. The program also endeavors to conserve the biodiversity in the river including Ganga River Dolphins, Ghariyals etc.

In addition, the Ministry of Defence has agreed to raise 1 battalion of Ganga Task Force initially for monitoring the pollution through ex-servicemen living along the River Ganga. Bhuvan-Ganga Mobile Application has been launched that provides a platform for crowdsourcing to monitor pollution in river Ganga and enable decision makers to prioritize interventions.

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