Govt to spend Rs 15,000 cr for 'a clean, free-flowing Ganga'

The Centre has expressed confidence that by 2020 the polluted river Ganga would be cleaned and Rs 15,000 crore will be spent on it.

"The Union Government is confident to clean the holy Ganga river by 2020 and Rs 15,000 crore will be spent for this purpose under the river development fund," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said here.

The Centre plans to save the river by making it 'nirmal' (clean) and 'aviral' (free flowing), he told reporters yesterday.

"We will not only ensure 'aviral dhara' (continuous flow of the river stream), as being demanded by several NGOs, but also ensure 'nirmal dhara' (clean and pollution free flow) , the minister said.

Ramesh said the World Bank has also committed India at least $1 billion as assistance for cleaning up the heavily polluted Ganga in the first phase.

The clean-up involves building modern sewage treatment, revamping drains and other measures to improve the quality of the river, which has been badly polluted by industrial chemicals, farm pesticides and other sewage.

"This is a project of enormous national importance and I am pleased that the World Bank has come forward to assist us," he said, adding the initial assistance of $1 billion would be provided over the next four to five years.

In 1985, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had launched a grand Ganga clean-up project -- Ganga Action Plan. But the river remains heavily polluted even after 24 years of the implementation of the project, Ramesh said.

"We have made a fresh proposal to the 13th Finance Commission stating that the costs of operating and maintaining sewage treatment plants (STPs) along the Ganga river be borne by the Centre," he said.

A number of STPs built under the Ganga Action Plan-I and II were not operating to their full capacity due to financial constraints of municipal bodies. The move would give breathing time to reform their finances.

Asked about the failure of the Ganga Action Plans, the minister said GAP-I and GAP-II were initiated to control direct discharge of sewage and industrial effluent into the river from 29 major and 23 small cities as well as 48 towns from Uttarakhand to West Bengal.

He said about 260-crore litre of untreated sewage and effluent is discharged into the river daily and the NGOs working to save the Ganga and the Centre are concerned the most on this issue.

Ramesh during his visit to the Ganga ghats, pulled up Municipal Commissioner Nand Kishore for their poor maintenance.