PM to launch sewage projects for Patna, attend Champaran event tomorrow

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stones of four sewerage projects, worth Rs 1,111.56 crore and aimed at creating a sewage-treatment capacity of 60 million litres daily (MLD) for Patna, at Motihari town of Bihar tomorrow.

He is also scheduled to take part in an event to mark the conclusion of the centenary celebrations of the "Champaran Satyagrah" in Bihar.

The projects in Patna include the laying of a 376.12-km sewer network in Saidpur and the Pahari sewerage zones, an official statement issued here said.

Three more projects are scheduled to be commissioned soon in the Karmalichak, Digha and Kankarbagh sewerage zones of Patna, which will create a 150-MLD capacity sewage treatment plant (STP) and lay 534.54 kms of sewer network.

The prime minister had, on October 14 last year, laid the foundation stones of four STPs and sewer network projects, worth Rs 738.04-crore, in Mokama town of Patna district. These projects are expected to create a 140-MLD capacity STP and lay 422.88 kms of sewerage network in these sewerage zones of Patna.

In all, the 11 projects in Patna, worth Rs 3,237.69 crore, will create a total sewage treatment capacity of 350 MLD and lay 1,140.26 kms of sewerage lines.

The expected sewage load for the city by 2035 is 320 MLD.

Once these projects are completed, no sewage water from Patna will flow into the Ganga. These projects will ensure that no untreated water goes into the Ganga in Patna and the sewer lines reach every household in the town, the statement said.

Besides these, a total of 29 projects, worth Rs 5,042.11 crore, are currently underway in Bihar under the Centre's Namami Gange programme, according to the statement.

The prime minister will also take part in an event to mark the conclusion of the centenary celebrations of the "Champaran Satyagrah" and address 20,000 "swachhagrahis" or ambassadors of cleanliness on the occasion.

"Swachhagrahis" are the "foot soldiers" to implement the Community Approaches to Sanitation (CAS) at the village-level.

Mahatma Gandhi had launched the "Champaran Satyagrah" on April 10, 1917 against the British to fight for the rights of the farmers, who were forced to undertake indigo cultivation.

Tomorrow marks the end of the centenary events of the "satyagrah", which will be celebrated through the Satyagrah se Swachhagrah campaign.