Pollution Free Ganga Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has been keeping a vigilant eye on Industrial Units polluting river Ganga. CPCB, under the Pollution Inventorization Assessment and Surveillance Project (PIAS), has inventorised 764 Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) along the main stem of River Ganga. CPCB had issued directions to respective State Pollution Control Boards for directing the industrial units located in Ganga basin states for installation of continuous online effluent quality monitoring system before March 31, 2015 and later extended till June 30, 2015. So far, systems installed in 80 units have been connected to CPCB server for data transfer. Government will take suitable action as per law against Industries which are non-compliant. The CPCB has issued directions under Section 5 of Environment Protection Act (EP Act) to 200 industries and directions under Section 18 (1) (b) of the Water (PCP) Act, 1974 to 178 industries. CPCB has issued closure directions to 64 units. Further, the Uttar Pradesh State Pollution Control Board has issued closure directions to 98 tanneries for operating without the consent of the Board on the directions of National Green Tribunal. Cleaning of river Ganga was started under Ganga Action Plan (GAP) Phase-I. GAP-1 was launched as a centrally funded scheme in 1985 and later GAP Phase-II was initiated in 1993 with the objective of improving the water quality of river Ganga. Various pollution abatement schemes including interception & diversion of sewage and setting up of sewage treatment plants were taken up under the Plan. A total of 869 mld and 229 mld has been established under GAP-I and II respectively. The work of Ganga cleaning was continued under National Ganga River Basin Authority in 2009. The Union Budget 2014-15 has set up an Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission namely Namami Gange. The Cabinet approved the Namami Gange program on May 13, 2015 as a comprehensive approach to rejuvenate the river Ganga by inclusion of all tributaries under one umbrella at a total cost of Rs. 20,000 crore for 5 years. As of now 93 schemes including 82 investment projects in 55 towns along the river Ganga and Yamuna are under different stages of construction, out of which 26 projects have been completed. This information was given by Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sushri Uma Bharti in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. Samir/jk
