80% of Ganga will be clean by March 2019: Gadkari

Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday assured that the Centre has targeted to make 80 to 90 percent of the River Ganga clean by March 2019.

Speaking at the ANI-organised India Infracon 2018 conclave, Gadkari said that not just the River Ganga, but also its tributaries and nullahs will be cleaned by next year.

"We are working on 187 projects for Ganga cleaning. Out of these, 47 projects have been completed successfully. Work on the remaining projects will be started by March. I will assure you that by March 2019, 80 to 90 percent of the Ganga will be clean," he said.

As per the Ministry of River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, an estimated 3,000 million litres of sewer water goes into the Ganga every day.

The river also collects waste matter from sugar refineries, distilleries, pulp and paper mills, and tanneries, apart from contaminated agricultural runoff from the rice bowl of Northern India.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre had promised to clean the Ganga during the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign.

Soon after coming to power, the NDA regime created a separate Ministry for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation to address the issue of clean waterways and their eventual inter-linking.